Week 4 - Reading Reflection

Column Summary:

Fenyvesi's Bridges: A World Community for Mathematical Art is a feature of the mathematical communities article, and it is not the first time this column has featured the Bridges organization. The column discusses the previous feature from the 2005 conference that took place in Banff, Canada. Diving into the intertwined artistic and mathematical ties that pull this conference together to be the interdisciplinary hub it is known to be, through theatre, formal lectures, an international mathematical art exhibit, a mathematical music night, and a math art workshop series. The work started in that Banff conference was the beginning of the journal of mathematics and the arts with the support of the Bridges community. The Bridges community has always been a transdisciplinary and intercultural platform, never having to shift to include the arts in its approach, as it was always integral to these projects.

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The beginning Bridges conferences were hosted by South Western College. The work of Reza Sarhangi, an immigrant from Iran with connections in both science and culture, brought attention to the complex cultural roots of mathematics, looking at the joint efforts of mathematics and artistic communities from ancient times. Specific research into Persian history highlighting the work of Abul Wafa al-Buzjani, who educated craftspeople in geometry, the decorative motifs of Persian art of this period required constant training and consultation with mathematicians, as the complex geometric patterns needed advanced knowledge in the area. Sarhangi was more than a teacher before immigrating; he was a graphic artist, drama teacher, playwright, theatre director, and props designer, giving him firsthand experience of the complex and collective artistic processes. Using his knowledge and experience to introduce creative forms of study to change how mathematicians were being educated. Creating a course on connections between mathematics and the arts. He attended art and mathematics conferences alongside artists, architects, and other experts in applying mathematics creatively. These conferences led the way to many interdisciplinary papers uniting perspectives on topics.

Before there was the Bridges conference, there was the international society of the arts, mathematics and architecture. Three of the first four directors of Bridges had previously been involved in ISAMA. Many groups connected to form the background for science and art communities involved in Bridges across multiple continents. Creating more conferences, festivals, societies, and associations that are closely tied to the Bridges organization.

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The column goes on to reflect on the review by Solomon Marcus of the first bridges conference. Marcus, an established pioneer in interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary areas with mathematics, advocated for broader and deeper artistic analysis within the discourse of the Bridges conference. The Bridges conference has followed this, increasingly including new mediums for mathematical art displays and lectures. Marcus speaks to the perspectives both artists and scientists gain from seeing the achievements of the other and its ability to broaden each other's horizons. Bridges' goal was to bring research alive. Bringing together artists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and educators, Bridges wanted the attendees to get more than just the content of the papers but to get an experience that integrates art, dance, and other performances.

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Bridges has gone barely sixty participants to annually 250-300 global participants and thousands of audience members. The conference has shifted to be held in tourist destinations, adding in day trip opportunities, having been held in multiple different countries. The Bridge's expansion has created a form of math-art tourism, and with international media, has strengthened many local math-art communities.

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The diversity of the topics featured at Bridges conferences entices a large, diverse audience. It is a platform for exchanging experiences, and it encourages teachers to engage in a more math-art approach. The Bridges collection has become the largest exhibit of mathematical art in the world. This transdisciplinary program pushed standards, but faced challenges balancing the conference's openness with academic legitimacy. Bridges had to develop their own way to uphold this, ensuring that submissions are judged by the standards of their own field, using different juries to review works and a transdisciplinary program committee for reviewing conference papers. Bridges works to bring in new ideas and voices every year.

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The column closes, highlighting the value of research, learning, and creativity that can strengthen awareness towards interlocking systems in preserving a sense of exploration and inquiry essential for rational and creative activities.

Stop 1: 

"I use community in its most complete sense - including adults, children, artists, university professors, art lovers, and local people- for the wealth of conference activities could only ne accomplished though each and every individual present." (Fenyvesi, p. 35)

Throughout this column there was a consistent and repeated emphasis on community and the coming together of diverse groups. I found this repeated emphasis to be one of my favourite things in this reading. The transdisciplinary focus and willingness/enthusiasm of Bridges conference to push and explore was exciting, finding places for so many experts in their fields to share and connect. 

Stop 2:

"For medieval craftspeople, creating the decorative motifs common to the Persian art of this era demanded not only constant training, but also regular consultation with mathematicians. Indeed, decorating the inner as well as the outer, spherical surface of a cupola with ties featuring highly regular, yet still extremely complex geometric patterns would have required advanced knowledge of geometry." (Fenyvesi, p. 37)

 

Sarhangi

After reading this in the article I was quickly searching for images of these tiles, I found multiple in work by Sarhangi, and added two from one of his articles (linked below the image if you are interested in looking at more). I am curious as to what consultations would have looked like between the craftspeople and the mathematicians, and the processes that the craftspeople worked through in the creation of these tiles. I wonder what role the mathematicians played within the planning of these designs, were they primarily involved in the execution of the designs, in their composition or actively engaged in both? 

Through this weeks videos I realized just how little I had connected math to music beyond patterns, and fractions/rhythm. I had some experience in band in school and some hobby experience with playing guitar, but have limited knowledge on more theory, and composition. I appreciated in the videos that there was more compositional links through the sound braid (which was fascinating but felt a bit above my head at times) but also lighter connections with the mobius music box which is easier to see moving around (and so fun to crank). I wonder how much work some of these things would be to integrate into non-math classrooms or if they are already doing it. I try in my class to highlight how topics connects outside of "just math" and realize I have not had this conversation with colleagues about if they seek to highlight the links to things such as math in their courses. Seeing the musical connections of the videos has peaked my curiosity for what Bridges theatrical performances looked like as admittedly that is not somewhere I had previously considered the mathematical links before. 

Question: What ways have you linked art and math in the classroom? Have you made musical links to math in your classroom, if so in what ways?

Fenyvesi, K. (2016). Bridges: A world community for mathematical art. The Mathematical Intelligencer, 38(2), 35–45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00283-016-9630-9

Sarhangi, R., Jablan, S., & Sazdanovic, R. (2005). Modularity in medieval Persian mosaics: Textual, empirical, analytical, and theoretical considerations. Visual Mathematics, (25). https://symmetry-us.com/Journals/sarhangi/