Math and Art Week 2

This weeks topic of the interconnectedness of math and art was something I have never learned about before. I had always been aware of some of the ways math can be applied within the practice of art, but I never studied it first hand. I always understood the importance of proportions, and ratios, but I was not aware of who first came up with the concept, or why it was applied in the first place.

The golden ratio can be found in many works of art and architecture. 

The topics presented in the lecture video were especially interesting. The use of the golden ratio, and the proportions of the human body in art and architecture were both topic that I knew little about. The use of ratios in art is interesting to me, because when I learned about ratios in math I only was taught what the were, but not how to apply it to anything outside of the classroom.
The artist that was in this weeks resources that really caught my attention was Theo Jansen.

A video of Jansen's Strandbeests moving on the beach

 I had seen his work before in other classes, but never more than just a few photos or video clips. The Ted Talk he did on his creature went in to much more detail, and helped me to understand why he makes these creatures, and what allowed him to create something so intricate and functional.

Jansen uses 11 holy numbers to construct his creatures

According to his Ted Talk, in order to make these creatures he uses special ratios. These ratios are used for the construction of the creatures, such as the distancing and length of the tubes. The process he uses to make them also emulates evolution and the passing of genetics. The creatures with stronger traits "pass on" that genetic code to the next generation. Jansen's goal is for the creatures to be able to survive on their own without any help, and he had modified and added many features to these creations over time to help reach this goal. The use of math in this artwork is fairly obvious. The construction and mechanics of these creatures require a heavy amount of math. This is certainly a type of artwork that would require a strong understanding of math to be able to create. I don't think this is the type of work that you come up with by chance, but rather something that has taken years and years to perfect. But it is totally worth it in my opinion, as it is incredibly fascinating to watch a huge creature walk on its own without any sort of electricity or man made operation, just the wind pushing it along the beach. They seem so robotic, but natural at the same time. To come up with this concept and execute it successfully you would certainly need to be thinking in a mathematic frame of mind. I don't think this way at all so it is hard for me to grasp how Jansen was even able to create something that moves so effortlessly, and can do so on it's own. After learning about math and art this week I can certainly see and appreciate all the way math has an influence on the development of art. Art has grown into so many different types of practices, that were helped along with the use of applied mathematics. Things like digital art, sculpture and even painting have all developed with help from math. The two subjects really are interconnected.
Sources

Jansen, Theo. “My Creations, a New Form of Life.” TED: Ideas Worth Spreading, Mar. 2007, www.ted.com/talks/theo_jansen_creates_new_creatures?language=en.

uconlineprogram. “Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov.” YouTube, YouTube, 9 Apr. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmq5B1LKDg.

Math Intro. By Victoria Vesna. YouTube. Uconlineprogram, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHiL9iskUWM&feature=player_embedded>.

“Theo Jansen.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Apr. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_Jansen.