Carving Complexity: Delving into the Realm of Fractals

Aleks Tedstone works with wood to create interweaving geometric sculptures, carving back from a single block of wood to create linked rings, cages and twisting structures.

Chris combines 3D printing and LED electronic technologies with infinity mirrors to produce artworks that bring the idea of 4D objects into tangible 3D space, he will talk about Lucid Fractals, 4D objects in 3D space.

What do fractals offer the social sciences? Anthropologists have long contended that concepts of time are variant between societies. In order to describe time experience, anthropologists require creative concepts that expand our more linear notions of time experience (past present future). Sonja will describe how anthropologists have written about time and provoke that the intersection between fractal mathematics and anthropology may help us articulate how some humans experience chaotic time.

Andrew came to fractals not through maths but computers — From drawing the Mandelbrot set with Atari as a child to writing his first complex program to teach a robot to draw a fractal. Andrew is fascinated by the level of detail that can arise from such short instructions in both computers and mathematics.

Fractals are mathematical objects that are self-similar, that is, upon zooming in, parts of it look like the whole. They often have a fractional dimension, and many surprising properties! Fractals can be used to model natural objects like coastlines, trees and snowflakes which cannot be easily described using traditional geometrical objects. They also appear in David's research on the theory of dynamical systems, which studies mathematical processes that change over time.

Aleks Tedstone works with wood to create interweaving geometric sculptures, carving back from a single block of wood to create linked rings, cages and twisting structures. This two-part interactive workshop will introduce you to the artistic applications of repeating patterns and tiles in 2- and 3-dimensions, via MC Escher and the cutting edge of mathematical progress. You will get to experiment with tessellation, handle intricate woodcarvings, and learn about the design process by making 3D prototypes of your own.