Abstract
In this paper the author considers some of the issues that arise when mathematics is used to make art (predominantly visual art), in particular the possible conflicts between the role of the mathematician as artist and of the artist as mathematician. Mathematics in art can be approached in a number of ways, as analyses and ‘simulations’ of artworks and processes perhaps by artificially intelligent systems, as ‘ready-made’ mathematical objects appropriated by an artist, or as products of the creative imagination in their own right. These approaches are examined and criticised, and connections are made and used to highlight the difference between the mathematics of art and mathematics as art. The relevance of ideas in the theoretical history of computing and philosophy of mathematics is revealed and used to open up a critical context for this kind of computer art.
- Richard Wright is a media artist specializing in computer animation and digital effects. He also writes widely on technology and culture and is currently a lecturer on computer graphics at London Guildhall University. [source: arteca.mit.edu/journal/10.1162/leon.1995.28.5.395]