2023 Minisymposium “Mathematics and Arts” at the annual meeting of the German Mathematical Society (hybrid: in-place at Ilmenau, Germany and online)

Our minisymposium aims to bring together researchers, artists, and educators interested in the connection and collaboration of mathematics and arts. We are looking for presentations tackling one of the following aspects:

• Artistic objects or projects that include mathematical components and put a focus on the imparting of those components.
• Examples for combining mathematics and arts in high school or university teaching as well as in outreach projects directed at the general public.
• Mathematical objects, entities, and projects that invite a discussion of their illustrations in the broadest sense, e.g., via images, 3D prints, software, etc.

We aim to cover a variety of topics centered around the inclusion of mathematics in different art forms like painting, sculpture, architecture, textiles, or music. As the mathematics component cannot be self-explanatory to the lay-person, the minisymposium aims to present works that make it explicit. For instance, geometric patterns and constructions can be an invitation to explore deeper mathematics, but the talk should clearly indicate how the recipient is brought into contact with mathematics via the artwork. Furthermore, we are looking for contributions that provide an educational opportunity with a clear learning outcome for the recipient. For instance, it could not only be learned that an artwork includes mathematics in general, but what specific mathematical elements it represents or captures. In this sense, an exemplary learning outcome would be not only that Escher's works include mathematics, but that they include elements of the wallpaper group as well as an understanding of what this means. Finally, we are looking for illustrations of mathematical ideas, concepts, and objects that carry not only the underlying mathematics, but also invite a discussion about visualization and illustration practices.

The official language of the minisymposium will be English. Each talk will be given 20 minutes plus an additional 5 minutes for questions. To propose a talk, please send an abstract of 1,000 to 1,500 characters (including spaces) and at least one illustrating picture, a link to a video, or some other supporting material to dmv.math.art@gmail.com by May 14th, 2023.

Selected authors will be invited to extend their abstracts to contributions that will be published in the peer-reviewed online journal “w/k”. Find here a compilation of articles originating from the 2020 rendition of the minisymposium as well as here a compilation of articles from the 2021 edition.

If you have any questions, please send an email to dmv.math.art@gmail.com.

We are looking forward to your proposals,
Milena Damrau and Martin Skrodzki

Important Dates

• Deadline for Talk Proposals: May 14th, 2023
• Acceptance Notification: May 31st, 2023
• Conference: Ilmenau, Germany, 25.–28. September (Minisymposium also accessible online)
• Notification for contributions selected for publication: October 2023