Michele Emmer Editor Imagine Math3 Between Culture and Mathematics Imagine Math 3 Michele Emmer Editor Imagine Math 3 Between Culture and Mathematics 123 Editor Michele Emmer Mathematics Sapienza University of Rome Rome Italy Translation: Kim Williams for the contributions by E. Barisoni, M. Emmer, E. Fiorelli et al., E. Blondeau, M. Rottmann, G. Zanelli, C. Zanini ISBN 978-3-319-01230-8 ISBN 978-3-319-01231-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-01231-5 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2011944690 © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 This work is subject to copyright. 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Cover Image: Lucio saffaro, “Opus CCCV”, 1993 (particular) Courtesy of the Fondazione Lucio saffaro, Bologna; Springer thanks Gisella Vismara Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Contents Introduction ................................................................. 1 Michele Emmer Part I Mathematics and Art Visual Harmonies........................................................... 5 Michele Emmer From Modern to Eternal: Art and Mathematics in the Return to Order of the 1920s .............................................. 9 Elisabetta Barisoni Mathematics, A Beautiful Elsewhere ..................................... 21 Jean-Pierre Bourguignon Space, Models and Geometric Fantasies ................................. 29 Umberto Bottazzini Visible Harmonies: Mathematical Models............................... 43 Michele Emmer Science Fiction, Art, and the Fourth Dimension ........................ 69 Linda Dalrymple Henderson Donald Judd’s Arithmetics and Sol LeWitt’s Combinatorics. On the Relationship Between Visual and Mathematical in New York Art Around 1960 ...................... 85 Michael Rottmann In-tensioni reciproche: Performance ...................................... 99 Emanuela Fiorelli, Caterina (Katia) Di Rienzo, Massimo Cappellani v vi Contents Part II Tribute to Mandelbrot The Fractal Organization of the Nervous System ....................... 121 Gabriele A. Losa Exhibiting the Process of Science: ‘The Islands of Benoît Mandelbrot: Fractals, Chaos, and the Materiality of Thinking’ ...... 129 Nina Samuel Part III Mathematics, Architecture and Design A Topological Fluid Architecture ......................................... 159 Michele Emmer Pasta Mathematica ......................................................... 179 George L. Legendre The Demolition of the Church of San Geminiano and the Perception of Piazza San Marco in Venice ..................... 189 Alberto Giuliani Part IV Mathematics and Literature Models of Passion ........................................................... 215 Laurent Derobert The Wolf and the Street: Narrative Encounters with Mathematics........................................................... 225 Matilde Marcolli Anxious Geometries ........................................................ 235 Claudio Zanini Part V Mathematics and Application À LA RECHERCHE DES RACINES PERDUES (In Search of Lost Roots) .................................................. 253 Marco Abate Probability Calculus, Pitfalls of Intuition and Judicial Errors ........ 263 Silvia Bozza Contents vii Photos, Objects and Computer Vision ................................... 271 Maurizio Falcone and Alessandra Seghini Sandpiles and Earthquakes................................................ 283 Gian Marco Todesco Part VI Mathematics and Cinema Representation of Space-Time in the Cinema: The Art of Editing.... 305 Edouard Blondeau Part VII Mathematics and Theater Searching for a Digital Performing Art .................................. 313 Claire Bardainne and Adrien Mondot Part VIII Venice The Ships, Shipyards and Ferries of Jacopo de’ Barbari .............. 323 Guglielmo Zanelli Contributors Marco Abate Dipartimento di Matematica, Università di Pisa, Pisa, Italia Claire Bardainne Paris, France Elisabetta Barisoni MART e Università Verona, Verona, Italy Edouard Blondeau Paris, France Umberto Bottazzini Mathematics Department, University of Milan, Milan, Italy Jean-Pierre Bourguignon CNRS-Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, Paris, France Silvia Bozza Dipartimento di Economia, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Cannare- gio, Venezia, Italy Massimo Cappellani Rome, Italy Laurent Derobert Ecole d’Art d’Avignon, Avignon, France Caterina (Katia) Di Rienzo Rome, Italy Michele Emmer Department of Mathematics, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy Maurizio Falcone Dipartimento di Matematica, SAPIENZA - Università di Roma, Roma, Italy Emanuela Fiorelli Rome, Italy Alberto Giuliani Paris, France Linda Dalrymple Henderson Department of Art and Art History, Texas Univer- sity, Austin, TX, USA George L. Legendre London, UK Gabriele A. Losa Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies, Locarno, Switzerland The Virtual Fractal Lab and European Academy of Sciences, Locarno, Switzerland Matilde Marcolli Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA ix x Contributors Adrien Mondot Paris, France Michael Rottmann Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany Nina Samuel Humboldt University Berlin, Berlin, Germany Alessandra Seghini Dipartimento di Matematica, SAPIENZA - Università di Roma, Roma, Italy Gian Marco Todesco Rome, Italy Guglielmo Zanelli Paris, France Claudio Zanini Milan, Italy Introduction Michele Emmer Imagine all the people Sharing all the world John Lennon Imagine mathematics, imagine with the help of mathematics, imagine new worlds, new geometries, new forms. Imagine building mathematical models that make it possible to manage our world better, imagine solving great problems, imagine new problems never before thought of, imagine music, art, poetry, literature, architecture, theatre and cinema with mathematics. Imagine the unpredictable and sometimes irrational applications of mathematics in all areas of human endeavour. Imagination and mathematics, imagination and culture, culture and mathematics. For some years now the world of mathematics has penetrated deeply into human culture, perhaps more deeply than ever before, even more than in the Renaissance. In theatre, stories of mathematicians are staged; in cinema Oscars are won by films about mathematicians; all over the world museums and science centres dedicated to mathematics are multiplying. Journals have been founded for relationships between mathematics and contemporary art and architecture. Exhibitions are mounted to present mathematics, art and mathematics, and images related to the world of mathematics. This third volume of the series begins with the connections between art and mathematics including the papers of L. D. Henderson, E. Barisoni, U. Bottazzini, M. Rottman and M. Emmer. All the papers are connected to the large exhibition on Art and Math entitled “Visible Harmonies” that was to take place at the MART in Italy during 2013, and was cancelled a few weeks before the opening. An article by J. P. Bourgignon is dedicated to the exhibition he organized in Paris in 2013 on math and modern Art. The volume includes an homage to Benoit Mandelbrot by N. Samuel and G. A. Losa. Very interesting the connections between math, Michele Emmer Department of Mathematics, University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy Emmer M. (Ed.): Imagine Math 3. Between Culture and Mathematics DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-01231-5_ 1, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 2 M. Emmer architecture and design are addressed in the papers by G. Legendre, E. Fiorelli and others, and A. Giuliani. An interesting part is dedicated to the connections between math, computer science and theatre with the papers by C. Bardainne and A. Mondot. All topics are treated in a rigorous but captivating way, detailed but full of evocations. An all-embracing look at the world of mathematics and culture.