The dialogue between art and mathematics is celebrated at Universum

MatemAlquimiaa monumental installation that celebrates the dialogue between art and mathematics, is exhibited at Universum, Science Museum, as part of the celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Institute for Research in Applied Mathematics and Systems (IIMAS). In the exhibition, cartoon creatures coexist with geometric objects, impossible symmetries and landscapes that invite you to look – and play – with ideas related to this knowledge.

“We want the public to discover the beauty, creativity and joy that exists in mathematics, long before fear,” said Ingrid Daubechies, mathematician, physicist and popularizer, winner of the Princess of Asturias Award and the doctorate. for the sake of honor from UNAM.

In interview with The DayDaubechies stated that he hopes that children and young people who visit Universum and see the exhibition will shed any fear they associate with this discipline. “Mathematics is much more than just school calculations. Hopefully this exhibition opens the shell, the barrier that they have put around them and that prevents them from understanding them,” he commented.

MatemAlquimia was created during the pandemic by a group of 24 artists and mathematicians, who transformed concepts such as fractals, topology, Archimedean solids or prime numbers into artistic experiences. The proposal was born from the exchange of ideas between Daubechies and the textile artist Dominique Ehrmann.

The process, Daubechies said, “was an extraordinary collaboration in which everyone contributed ideas and learned. All the mathematicians and artists on the team acquired some teaching from their peers.” He explained that while some visitors will mainly perceive creatures, objects, colors and textures, others will identify deeper mathematical concepts.

The mathematician commented that from the beginning one of the objectives of the project was not to limit itself to one area: “There are properties of numbers, symmetries, topology, many things. I didn’t want it to be about a specific concept.”

Timeless proposal

At a time when artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly depends on complex mathematics, Daubechies clarified that this exhibition does not dialogue with that technology and opted for a timeless proposal. He also does not believe that AI will make mathematical concepts obsolete.

“We have to learn to use AI, to know when to trust it and when not to; eventually we will know how to use it in a way that allows us to go further,” he noted.

If there is one notion that you want the public to take away with them after visiting the exhibition, it is that “mathematics is fun.”

MatemAlquimialocated on the second floor of temporary exhibitions at Universum, in conversation with the Imaginario Matemático room, will be open to the public until June 20.