2023 Joint Mathematics Meetings
John Snow
Artists
Statement
The year 2020 began a period of global introspection. We were forced suddenly to evaluate the importance of human contact, the significance of time, and the value of life. These images based on the 600+ year-old astronomical clock in Prague ask us to pause and evaluate the strange times we are living in.
Artworks
This piece is another inverse image of the astronomical clock in Prague under a random composition of trigonometric functions, multiplication, maximum, and minimum. As the events of 2020 move farther into the past, we can see structure returning to society and time. It may not be the same structure, but it has its own value.
This piece is the inverse image of the astronomical clock in Prague under a random composition of the functions $\cos(\pi x)$, $\sin(\pi x)$, $\cos(2 \pi x)$, $\sin(2 \pi x)$, $\sin(\pi x^2+\pi y^2)$, and $\cos(\pi x^2+\pi y^2)$ along with maximum, minimum, and multiplication. To perform the computations, the original image and the generated image are mapped onto the square $[-1,1]\times [-1,1]$, which is closed under all of the involved functions. The intent is to capture the dissolution of the cohesion of culture, time, and existence during the events of 2020. The clock and the times are hardly recognizable.