2018 Bridges Conference Nominees' Gallery

Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson

Artists

Mikael Vejdemo-Johansson

Assistant Professor of Data Science

Department of Mathematics, CUNY College of Staten Island

Staten Island, New York, USA

mikael@johanssons.org

http://www.math.csi.cuny.edu/~mvj

http://michiexile.smugmug.com

http://shapeways.com/shops/michiexile

Statement

The advent of accessible automated tools — 3d printers, laser cutters, CNC-controlled mills, vinyl cutters, et.c. — that through the Maker movement reaches commodity prices opens up a number of new approaches to art: especially algorithmic and mathematical art works. The computational control allows us to write algorithms to generate concrete physical art; and their precision allows a higher resolution than what the eye can discern. In my mathematical art I seek to reify the abstract, to make mathematical concepts and shapes available to touch, to trace, to twist and turn. To create physical artifacts meant for interaction to bring the complex closer and make the abstract concrete.

Artworks

Image for entry 'Circular Klein Bottle'

Circular Klein Bottle

5 x 15 x 15 cm

3d printed alumide

2016

Most will know the Klein bottle as a bottle-like shape, where the top swings over, goes through a side and connects to the bottom - the iconic shape widely available. That shape emphasizes the Klein bottle as a glued cylinder. The most immediate alternative construction starts from a Möbius strip, and glues two of them together along the boundary. An emphasis on this construction highlights the gluing circle as the center from which the entire structure emanates. My Circular Klein Bottle demonstrates the embedding in the circular Möbius construction, built to pick up and inspect, to trace the geometry and topology. Just like the 3d glass Klein bottles can contain water, this contains a marble that can roll along the gluing circle.