Mathematics in the arts.

Intelligence is propelled by the engines of creativity, originality and imagination. It is the ability to imagine, recreate fictions, beautify paradises or hells. Necessity and creativity are the main sources for the development of the brain and the tools that have accompanied us for this century. The greatness of the human is shown through the concatenation of ideas and concepts in the world of imagination and then their materialization by current means.

Intelligence is propelled by the engines of creativity, originality and imagination. It is the ability to imagine, recreate fictions, beautify paradises or hells. Necessity and creativity are the main sources for the development of the brain and the tools that have accompanied us for this century. The greatness of the human is shown through the concatenation of ideas and concepts in the world of imagination and then their materialization by current means.

Let's look back a bit, in the field of graphic arts and looking for a history of the use of mathematics, we have M.C.Escher 1898-1972, of the Netherlands. He represented impossible scenarios for this reality relying on the sequential use of mathematics. In his drawings, he plays with our mind, posing problems that our brain is not capable of solving and this comes into conflict, driving us out of comfort, awakening our curiosity. It represents the dream world, of the deepest introspection and he does it in a masterful way. A world full of imagination, metamorphoses and optical illusions.

In fashion design - which may seem a frivolous subject (although not to me) - the levels of sophistication and beauty show that we are beings with a lot of imagination. Imagination is equivalent to development in my language.

From the use of animal skin to protect us from the cold to the magnificent Dior haute couture dresses, evidence that we are not the same. I want to invite you to meet this haute couture artist who uses new technologies in the artisanal creation of her designs, mathematics is implicit. She is the designer Iris van Herpen born in the Netherlands, her work is interdisciplinary, it is linked to science, technology and architecture. One of her collections is inspired by marine animals that make you travel to the depths of silence thanks to the fall of the fabrics, their volatility and their mathematical repetition creating tangible matrices. Remember the organic, nature, they are not simple dresses, they are works of art. Her work shows the application of technology and the greatness of imaginative thinking today.

State-of-the-art technology is the result of a long journey by homo sapiens, so it is a bit "risky" not to use what has been learned lacking a result of our time. Well, mathematics as an exact science of human thought can be applied almost to everything known, it allows us to treat concepts such as "the Möbius strip", 1858 (August Ferdinand Möbius (1790-1868)) (For mathematicians and philosophers: my position –  mathematics is an invention of the human being that helps to explain part of the known universe and our existence) Now let’s mix everything: technology, mathematics and ART. 

This enigmatic single edge non-steerable surface “The Mobius Strip” has attracted artists, architects and engineers for decades. Others have used new technologies and these concepts to create a different art beyond what is possible or imaginable, the ART of the 21st century.

Architects have been seduced by this mathematical concept in their incessant search to blur material boundaries. The Möbius strip is the simplest object of its kind and can therefore easily be represented in this dimension. But bringing it to architecture precisely is a bit tricky so many architects have been inspired by the concept of the Möbius strip.

The American architect of Jewish origin known worldwide for the “Berlin memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe” inaugurated in May 2005, P­­­­­eter Eisenman; developed a project not built in 1992 "The Max Reinhardt Haus" for a building that would house different activities honouring the vision of the German theatre impresario Reinhardt. Peter was inspired by the Möbius strip as the design basis for this building. It is interesting how the building turns on itself, even in the conceptual model it is observed how it crosses the limits of the material, that is, that it penetrates the earth to conceptually complete the turn of the strip. Without a doubt, projects like these could not be planned without the help of computer programs, new technologies and the imagination of the human being. 

Another example that I can cite is that of Rem Koolhas in 2012, leading the OMA team they built the office building "CCTV - Headquarters" in Bejin, China. Where the concept of skyscrapers "twists" and creates a new conception of the skyscraper. The form of the building obeys the demand of the function. It was necessary for the activities to be interconnected by creating a circuit in which the television production processes would be developed in response to the activity of this. The infinite ribbon concept houses the continuous movements of the function that takes place here, creating coherence between form and function.

The ability to imagine and cross the limits of logic makes us more human. Restlessness, curiosity, enthusiasm and creativity make us strong, intelligent and free. The power for me, lies in the ability to imagine what does not exist and make it real.

Editor: Drewry Cooper

                                                                                                                        

CCTV - Headquarters in Bejin, China.        © Jim Gourley