A Curious Collaboration
Dominique Ehrmann, A Curious Collaboration, 2022–2023, textiles and acrylic on cork with wood frame, 30.5 x 40.5 x 3.5 inches. Permanent collection of the National Academy of Sciences.
This artwork documents Mathemalchemy, a multimedia art installation that was on view at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in 2022 and featured in the Spring 2022 Issues. Mathematician and NAS member Ingrid Daubechies and fiber artist Dominique Ehrmann conceived of the Mathemalchemy project in the fall of 2019, and it soon grew into a collaboration of 24 mathematical artists and artistic mathematicians. The group built a large installation that, in its depiction of mathematical concepts such as symmetry, topology, optimization, tessellations, fractals, hyperbolic plane, and stereographic projection, celebrates the creativity, beauty, and fun of mathematics. Their hope is that the work will help attract a wider range of young people to careers in math, science, and engineering. Ehrmann created this piece so that the NAS would have an enduring record of the temporary exhibition.