James Benning spoke of how his math background influences his film making. He explained that it took until the 15th century until the number zero was added to our "counting numbers." In addition, when working with zero, we cannot divide by zero because it leads to false conclusions.
An interesting short tale about how an aircraft carriers' computers became disabled because they divided by zero was also mentioned. The carriers' engines shut off and it stood idle at sea for two days until they reprogrammed the computers and resumed their course.
Benning used some advanced mathematical techniques to show that it is impossible to "build" a circle or a square. We construct them by error because we do not have the proper measuring utensils to create these geometric figures. We basically estimate the size according to the closest mathematical sum of all the sides....or the radius in the case of the circle.
Math can be thought of as abstract as well. We cannot find "pie" (3.14) by measurement because it is continues on to infinity without repeating. It is therefore considered as an "irrational number" because it does not repeat.
Benning created an extended fraction and used it to display the "extreme beautiful symmetry" of math. He said that he hoped that we could use the concepts that are applied to math in our film making and discovery process. Like math, "art is intellectual curiosity," stated Benning.
Benning challenged me to think about my art work differently in both an exact and abstract sense. I enjoyed his presence as our guest speaker and look forward to finding new ways of communicating.....perhaps in a more mathematical way than I realize.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Matthew,
Great response. You mention an intriguing analysis while connecting both Benning's definition of infinity and how this can be utilized in art. Also, the link between "irrational" numbers as if even numbers don't have to make sense!
Post a Comment