EVENT: "POETIC ENCHANTMENTS OF SCIENCE" LECTURE

Welsh writer Merrily Harpur has written that “the duty of artists everywhere is to enchant the conceptual landscape.” It may not be the duty of scientists to produce conceptual enchantment, but in this talk Margaret Wertheim will propose that this is one of the goals scientists and mathematicians achieve. In 2003, Wertheim founded the Institute For Figuring, a collaborative enterprise with her artist-twin-sister Christine Wertheim dedicated to “the poetic and aesthetic dimensions of science and mathematics.” The IFF can be conceived of as a “play tank” – a new kind of practice for exploring creative engagement with topics ranging from geometry and topology, to physics, computation, and biological form. In this wide-ranging multidisciplinary talk, Wertheim discusses the methodologies she has developed for shaping and sharing imaginative speculative play practices that provide insight into the realms of math & science. From a worldwide project to model coral reefs using the art of crochet, to building giant fractals from thousands of fluorescently colored business cards, Wertheim’s work offers experiences for playing with ideas.