[Maths-Education] Maths-Art Seminar at London Knowledge Lab: May 12, 'Can Science Save Art?'

[Phillip Kent]

*** PLEASE CIRCULATE ** ALL WELCOME **

CAN SCIENCE SAVE ART? MOVES TOWARDS A WIDER MATHEMATICS OF ART
Clive Head and Michael Paraskos
Tuesday 12 May, 6.00 - 7.30pm

This seminar is a call to those mathematicians with an interest in art
to expand the objects of their enquiry. All artists use mathematics in
some form in their work because the primary purpose of art is to define
– or rather establish – space. For artistic space to have any validity
it has to attain the status of what we call 'conceivable space'. This
applies as much to the abstract art of a painter like Kandinsky as to
the realist art of classical painters. Clive Head is a painter whose
work is realist, and might be mistaken for photorealism, but his
paintings are not a mirror to reality or painted copies of photographs.
Instead Head uses complex numerical calculations to establish a coherent
spatial structure on the canvas. In other words, there is a mathematical
relationship between the various figures in a painting by Head, and this
relationship is wholly separate to the spatial relationships one would
find in either the physical world or a photographic image of the world.

With help from the audience it is hoped there will be a spirited debate
on the full complexity of the relationship between mathematics and art,
possibly with the hope that some of the qualitative framework one finds
in mathematics (distinguishing 'good' and 'bad' formulae) and the wider
sciences could be transferred to a discussion on a new qualitative
framework for art (distinguishing 'good' and 'bad' art).

CLIVE HEAD is a realist painter of cityscapes. He was previously Head of
Fine Art at the University of Hull. He has exhibited around the world,
including London, New York, Maastricht, Basel, Moscow and Monaco, and is
due to stage a solo show based on Canaletto at the National Gallery,
London, in October 2010. MICHAEL PARASKOS is a writer and historian, who
studied at the universities of Leeds and Nottingham. He has written
widely for newspapers, and magazines, and published several books,
including "Re-Reading Read: New Views on Herbert Read" (2007) and "Is
Your Artwork Really Necessary?" (2009).

TIME: 6.00 - 7.30pm, Tuesday 12 May 2009
PLACE: London Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald St, London, WC1N 3QS
[Travel information & maps at: http://bit.ly/LKL-MathsArt-venue ]

All welcome. No reservation required, but an email to
lkl.maths.art at gmail.com would be appreciated for planning purposes

Next seminar: June 9, Alan Sutcliffe, 'Doyle Spirals'. No seminars in
July and August.

*Visit the website and seminar archive:
http://www.lkl.ac.uk/events/maths-art
*Join the email list for future seminar announcements:
http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/lkl-maths-art



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Dr Phillip Kent
London Knowledge Lab - Institute of Education
23 - 29 Emerald St
London WC1N 3QS
p.kent at ioe.ac.uk
tel 020 7763 2156   mobile 07950 952034
www.RISKatIOE.org , www.phillipkent.net
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