Thursday, November 16, 2006

Contacts:  Jason Cantarella, 706/542-2610, Jason@math.uga.edu; Philip Lee Williams, 706/542-8501, phil@franklin.uga.edu
 
Sculpture by UGA math professor and his brother on exhibit in Athens through Jan. 20

Athens, Ga. – University of Georgia mathematics professor Jason Cantarella and his brother, artist and scenic designer, Luke Hegel-Cantarella, have created a mathematical sculpture entitled “The Flocktree” (below) in the courtyard of the 159 Oneta St. building. The sculpture is composed of a flock of birds hanging in the air within a nesting collection of boxes that form a mathematical structure called an octree. An octree is a way to group objects together based on their positions in space.

Sponsored by Ideas for Creative Exploration (ICE), an interdisciplinary initiative for advanced research in the arts at UGA, the installation opens Nov. 18, at 5 p.m. and continues through Jan. 20.

“It is a highly effective way of organizing objects in spaces, but it appears fascinatingly random when displayed,” said Cantarella. “This raises many interesting issues about the role of intention and randomness in the way nearby objects are grouped and related to each other, and the way the eye processes space and order given certain visual aids and cues.”

Cantarella is a research mathematician and associate professor of mathematics. His research interests are focused in geometry and computation, and he has a particular interest in the visualization of mathematics. His scholarly work includes 19 published articles, including papers in the American Journal of Mathematics, Geometry and Topology, and Inventiones Mathematicae.

Hegel-Cantarella works primarily as a theatrical stage designer. He has designed over 50 productions including work for the theater, opera and ballet. His paintings have been exhibited at the Around the Coyote Festival (Chicago) and the Union League Gallery (Chicago), which presented his series of paintings, “the Potsdam Project.”

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