Bridges 2016 midterm report

OK, so I made it to Jyväskylä. I’ve met here some really interesting people, artists, mathematicians of all sorts, teachers, philosophers… Not all of them think about themselves in these terms, but I’ll do my own evaluations.

Getting the Phoenix here ahead of me was a bit tricky. Unfortunately it had been set up on Monday evening, in a place where the phoenix figure was simply invisible. For Tuesday a conference assistant suggested I mount it in front of a video projector. 

Phoenix projected. The background image is another Phoenix I have made. Mathematical sculptures by the Bridges participants.

Janitors didn’t like the idea, so today when I wanted to see it, I simply fetched it to the lobby and the outdoors. After all, up in the gallery it was like a photograph of a hologram. There I could at least field test it. Turned out that under partially cloudy conditions it’s even more alive. After all, it’s made of pure light.

I took it to the gallery for the night for storage. Can’t see how that’s different from how it was mounted there.

I really like it, which is strange. I’m usually highly critical of my own work. I know I can do better than that, but I still like it. A lot.

This morning I gave my presentation about Wang tiles. Audience may have been bit too much mathematically inclined to be interested. The mathematical content was covered in 5 minutes, as I focused on applying them in art. It was the first presentation I’ve attended where no-one actually asked anything. Only comment was to correct me on a technicality.

On Friday evening there’s the mathematical theatre, Hypatia’s circle, where I’ll be playing a part. Preparations are going fine, so I expect it to go well.

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