Liberal Arts Mathematics A Conceptual Art Form

1. Liberal Arts MathematicsA Conceptual Art Form Steve Zides (Physics Department)

2. What is Conceptual Art? “In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” --- Sol LeWitt What is Liberal Arts Math? “An introduction to the essence of mathematics, namely, the discovery and verification of patterns, and to the historical role of mathematics in shaping culture.” --- Wofford Catalogue Conceptual Art and Liberal Arts Mathematics

3. One and Three Chairs by Joseph Kosuth “What art has in common with logic and mathematics is that it is a tautology” --- Kosuth

4. Number and Set

5. Jasper Johns Georges-Pierre Seurat Examples From Number and Set

6. Logic and Proof

7. René Magritte Joseph Wright Examples From Logic and Proof

8. Geometry

9. Masaccio Canaletto Picasso Examples From Geometry

10. Transformation and Iteration

11. M.C. Escher Robert Smithson Examples From Transformation and Iteration

12. Assignment The goal of this project is to get each student to think creatively about the material being covered in class. To allow the maximum amount of flexibility, students may create a project in any format they choose. For example the project could be a video, photo collage, painting, series of sketches, short story, play scene, poetry collection, etc. • Types of Final Submission • Poems • Short Stories • Baby Mobil • Board Game • Rock Video • New Number System • Numbers and Classical Music • Alternate Perspective Painting • Psychology of Pattern • Fermat Collage Final Projects

13. Boast in Latin Entire Collage Kat’s Fermat Collage Statement of the Theorem

14. Liberal Arts MathematicsA Conceptual Art Form Steve Zides (zidessb@wofford.edu)