Math has influenced art and
science by expanding our perspective on how we view the world and how we
understand the nature of the universe. Buckminster Fuller discusses the
de-geniusing of our education system in that our education system reduces our
perspective. However, I believe the incorporation of math is essential to
increasing and amplifying our perspective. For example, math has been used to literally
create a new perspective in art with the technique of using vanishing points.
Instead of a painting being projected in the artists’ own view, a painting is
projected naturally and shows an image that is displayed exactly from the
perspective of a person viewing the image from his or her own eyes.
"St. Peter Healing a Cripple and the Raising of Tabitha" (1425) by Masolino using a vanishing point
The story in the novel Flatland
also exemplifies the idea of expanding perspective and thinking about problems
in art and science in new ways by using geometry and different dimensions. The
2D Square learns about the 3D world from a Sphere and is unable to convince the
others in his 2D world of its existence. In fact, it is considered religious
heresy that the Sphere preaches about another world the 2D world can’t see. Using
math, we can feel, understand, and convey ideas that are not obvious to the eye
and it is important to remain open to those ideas.
Trailer of the movie Flatland (2007)
Finally, in Henderson’s
article, he discusses the 4th dimension and modern art. It was by
rejecting traditional one point perspective and trying to visualize a 4th
dimensions that artists were able to comprehend and create art that reevaluated
the human experience.
This idea of a new
perspective from math is demonstrated in the artistic video game Miegakure. The goal of this game is to
navigate a 4D world to solve puzzles as well as demonstrate what the 4D
universe might look like from a human’s 3D perspective. The artist does this by
depicting 3 dimensions at a time wherein clicking a button shifts which of the
3 of 4 dimensions a player sees. To solve the puzzles, the player must
continuously transform and shift their environment and change dimensions.
Trailer of Miegakure
http://miegakure.com
"Flatland" Comic by Randall Munroe
https://xkcd.com/721/
"Flatland" Comic by Randall Munroe
References:
Abbott, Edwin A. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. N.p.: n.p., 1884. Print.
Bosch, Marc T. "Understanding Miegakure, and the 4D as Parallel Universes." Web log post. Marc Ten Bosch [Miegakure] Blog. N.p., 25 Feb. 2015. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://marctenbosch.com/news/>.
Flatland: The Movie - Official Trailer. Screenplay by Set Caplan. Dir. Jeffrey Travis and Dano Johnson. Prod. William Wallace. 2007. Video.
Frantz, Marc. "Lesson 3: Vanishing Points and Looking at Art." N.p., 2000. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cap6938-02/refs/VanishingPoints.pdf>.
Henderson, Linda D. "The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion." Leonardo 17.3 (1984): 205-10. JSTOR. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
"Miegakure." Miegakure. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015. <http://miegakure.com/>.
Munroe, Randall. "Flatland." Xkcd. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Suellentrop, Chris. "Mind Game." Wired Nov. 2014: n. pag. Web. <http://www.wired.com/2014/11/4d-game/>.
Tyler, Christopher, and Michael Kubovy. "Perspective: The Rise of Renaissance Perspective." Science & Art of Perspective. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.
I really enjoyed your blog. You mention the importance of perspective which was very important in the current understanding of the relationship between math and art and science. Also, your visuals are great. I like how you used in the trailer of the Flatland movie. I didn't even think about adding that to my own post. I've actually seen the movie and it's quite illuminating, even being a cartoon. But it is a great demonstration of the relationship as well. The comic strip fits in well with your post as well.
ReplyDeleteI loved your explanation of how "math has influenced art and science by expanding our perspective on how we view the world and how we understand the nature of the universe." It was a great way to introduce the topic of your blog and was very easy to understand. Also, I like how you connected the lesson of this week to a novel you read. It shows that you have a deeper and greater understanding of math and art and their relationship. Finally, I very much enjoyed the images you chose and the video 3D and 4D. Overall, great job!!
ReplyDeleteI love your inclusion of the videos. It helped to clarify and make the concepts in this week's topic more engaging and interesting. I particularly like how you mentioned that math can open our eyes and expose us to different perspectives. This was particularly significant to me because I tend to hate math because I always saw it as a "scary" concept, that consisted of just equations and processes. However, the way you explained them intermingling made it less scary, and it instead you showed me how it's an integral part of art. It combined the two worlds and made them seem seem more cohesive, because I (before this lecture) felt like they were separate. Great post and the last picture is hilarious!
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