Conférence : Aesthetics of Mathematics – Mathematics of Aesthetics

Type : Conférence

Date : 19 – 20 mai 2017

Lieu : Mendrisio, C3.89 Palazzo Canavée, Accademia di architettura, USI, Viale Canvée 5.

The Swiss Society for Cultural Theory and Semiotics (SSCS) together with the Institute for the History and Theory of Art and Architecture (ISA) at the Academy of Architecture is is pleased to announce its annual conference (conception: Prof. Dr. Sonja Hildebrand, ISA/SSCS).
The conference will investigate the manifold reflections of modern mathematics found since the 18th century in the literary, artistic, and architectural theory and practice. The displacement of euclidean geometry by algebra as a leading discipline of mathematics has posed fundamental questions about the “ontological status” of the number. For the arts, this presented a conceptual challenge, and simultaneously generated new creative potential, which will be explored on this occasion. Furthermore, the conference will also address the aesthetic dimensions of mathematical concepts. Speakers with the background in art and architectural history, as well as literary studies and history of mathematics will come together to reflect the interdisciplinary approach of the event. The conference is generously supported by the Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences.

19 May 2017 – Palazzo Canavée, Viale Canavée 5, aula C3.89

14:00
BOAS EREZ (Università della Svizzera italiana, Chancellor), MARIE THERES STAUFFER (Université de Genève, President SSCS), Welcome

14:15
SONJA HILDEBRAND (USI, Mendrisio), Introduction

Mathematics and Knowledge : chair: Elena Chestnova (USI, Mendrisio)

14:30
MICHAEL GNEHM (USI, Mendrisio/ETH Zurich), Descartes and Architecture

15:15
HANS NIELS JAHNKE (Universität Duisburg-Essen), How Form Generates Meaning: Algebra 1700 to 1900

16:00
Coffee break

16:30
ANDREA ALBRECHT (Universität Stuttgart)
LUTZ DANNEBERG (HU Berlin), Beauty = Truth? On Aesthetic Criteria for Scientific Validity

17:45
FRANZISKA BOMSKI (Klassik Stiftung Weimar), Creating the Unity of Knowledge: Novalis and Mathematics

18:30 SSCS General Assembly

20 May 2017

Mathematics and Aesthetics in the 19th Century : chair: Marie Theres Stauffer (Université de Genève)

9:30
CÉLINE TRAUTMANN-WALLER (Université Paris 3), Johann Friedrich Herbart and his Heritage in Aesthetics

10:15
ELENA CHESTNOVA (USI, Mendrisio), Popular Mathematics in the 19th Century

11:00
Coffee break

11:30
SONJA HILDEBRAND (USI, Mendrisio), Mathematical Curves in Architectural Theory around 1850

12:15
ESTELLE THIBAULT (ENSA Paris-Belleville), Order, Permutations and Intuitive Geometry: Jules Bourgoin’s Theory of Ornament

13:00
Lunch break

Mathematics and 20th-Century Architecture, Visual Arts and Music : chair: Michael Gnehm (USI, Mendrisio/ETH Zurich)

14:30
UTE POERSCHKE (Pennsylvania State University), A Source of Inspiration: Mathematical Functions in Architectural Theory

15:15
HANS FREI (Zurich)‚ Space, Time, and Everything Else‘: Shinohara Reconsidering the Spatial Concept of the Modern Avant-garde

16:00
Coffee break

16:30
LYNN GAMWELL (School of Visual Arts, New York), Formalist Aesthetics in Göttingen and Moscow: from Hilbert’s Grundlagen (1899) to Rodchenko’s Red (1921)

17:15
PETER KOCH GEHLSHØJ (University of Copenhagen), Messiaen’s Musical Convergence

Final Discussion

Organisation: Prof. Dr. Sonja Hildebrand : sonja.hildebrand@usi.ch

Contact: Dr. Elena Chestnova : elena.chestnova@usi.ch

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