Abstract:

Sculptor/mathematician George W. Hart will bring examples and show slides of some of his mathematically informed sculptures. These include works made of metal, wood, acrylic, paper, CDROMs, floppy disks, forks, knives, spoons, etc. Also shown will be three-minute videos of the assembly of two recent commissions: a six-foot sculpture constructed from 642 CDROMs in the Computer Science building at U.C. Berkeley, and a five-foot sculpture constructed at a community "barn raising" event, at the Northport NY Public Library. For examples of Hart's work, see http://www.georgehart.com/. Each is founded on a mathematical structure of some type. Many involve novel algorithms, Rapid Prototyping techniques, (Solid Freeform Fabrication) or laser-cutting to create very accurate components for assembly.

With this background, the talk will also introduce a new group sculpture assembly project to take place on the MIT campus. Students and other members of the MIT community are invited to participate in the assembly of laser-cut wooden components into a new sculpture.

Abstract:

The extended face planes of symmetric polyhedra form a set of interconnected canvases that can be used as the basis for a wide range of sculptural forms. A special-purpose software tool is described which allows the user to select families of such planes, to draw within them, to maintain constraints concerning points lying on their intersections, to view and modify the results interactively in real time, and to output the result for production either as 3D rapid prototyping or 2D laser-cutting, etc. A range of examples demonstrate the versatility of the approach. One example will be constructed on campus as a large group assembly project from laser-cut wooden components.

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