The MathStudio Pendulum Project
Year: 2012 Authors: Pau Atela
Core claim
A freely moving pendulum, inspired by mathematical and artistic precedents, can generate large-scale site-specific drawings and classroom exploration.
Topics
pendulum motion, site-specific drawing, art-math dialogue, differential equations
Domains
differential equations, Newtonian mechanics, pendulum equation, installation art, process art, drawing, experimental studio practice
Methods
undergraduate seminar, live pendulum setup, material dripping, visual documentation
Media
snow, ink, coffee, beet juice, paper sheets
Paper text
The text below is the locally extracted OCR/Markdown version of the paper. Raw PDF files remain local and are not published here.
Bridges 2012: Mathematics, Music, Art, Architecture, Culture
The MathStudio Pendulum Project
Pau Atela
Dept. of Mathematics Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063 USA
Abstract
MathStudio at Smith College is an ongoing creative studio space focusing on process and dialogue about art and math. We present a large real pendulum moving freely and dripping juices onto snow and ink onto sheets of paper.
MathStudio at Smith College is an ongoing creative studio space focusing on process and dialogue about art and math. In mathematics courses, the Newtonian pendulum equation is a classic example of a differential equation and it is used as an endless source of mathematical and computer explorations. In the year 2009-2010 I introduced a real pendulum into an undergraduate senior Seminar class within MathStudio. I introduced the students to “Botafumeiro” videos from the Catedral de Santiago de Compostela in Spain and to the hanging rope work of the seminal artist Simone Forti from the 1960s. We hung a swinging pendulum that dripped paint onto sheets of paper while moving freely. Figures 1, 2, and 3 show several results.
Figure 1: Coffee and beet juice on snow. (Overall diameter about 25 feet.) Site-specific drawing with Aki Sasamoto and Sam Ekwurtzel, MathStudio, 2011.
Atela
Figure 2: Initial and final stages of an elongated example.
Figure 3: An example with several layers. The almost-elliptic curves adopt several configurations through time as the pendulum moves. Notice the scale with the human arm in the middle-left figure.
