“Grasping Mathematics” & “Making Mathematics visible”
Mathematics can inspire! This was demonstrated in the first week of July when around 250 pupils visited the “Understanding Mathematics” exhibition. Under the direction of Gerhard Hainscho and Roland Prinz, many different exhibits were on display for puzzling, trying out, playing and having fun.
Furthermore, on the occasion of “50 years of mathematics in Klagenfurt”, the competition “Making mathematics visible” was announced. Pupils of all ages were able to take part with entries that made mathematics visible in some way. Creativity and interdisciplinary thinking were very welcome – the only important thing was that a mathematical idea was illustrated, e.g. in the form of a poster, a handicraft, a work of art, a video, a computer program, …
The best submissions were selected by a jury of experts and presented in the festive gallery as part of the “Understanding Mathematics” exhibition. Thank you for taking part and congratulations to the winners!
1st Prize: “FotoMAtik” by pupils of the 6th grade BRG Viktring (submission: Kerstin Mayerhofer)
From the jury’s decision:
Great idea to place mathematical terms over a series of pictures of everyday images that open up these terms in their ambiguity for a pleasurable combinatorial mind game. You get the feeling that mathematics plays into every corner of life, or is it perhaps the other way around?
In this interesting, aesthetic and creative contribution, the idea of combining mathematics and art is realized in a highly harmonious way, and it also contains an intellectual challenge for the viewer: to find an example of the key word in each photo.
Special prize: “Bitte nicht wegwischen” (“Please don’t wipe away”) by pupils in class 5a at BORG Wolfsberg (submission: Heidi Linzer)
From the jury’s decision:
The blackboard pictures with good old chalk of mathematical calculations are collective memories of school days and the intensive confrontation with mathematics. These chalk lines were traced and sewn in with a sewing machine, cross-stitched and sewn down.
The result is a sensual, haptic art object that is directly linked to memories of personal experiences with mathematics in school. Both pleasant and unpleasant memories can be relived and reclassified through the play of threads.
2nd Prize: “Calculator 2 – Tag der Abrechnung” by pupils of the elective subject mathematics at the BG/BRG Villach-St. Martin (submission: Susanne Pötzi)
From the jury’s decision:
An elaborately realized animated video that also suggests great mathematical knowledge. As a non-mathematician, the paths and symbols are not really clear to me, but I still get a feeling for what goes on in the background of a pocket calculator.
3rd Prize: “Who the … are you?” by pupils of 6c of the BRG/BORG Wolfsberg (submission: Anna Markut)
From the jury’s decision:
The playful approach is particularly appealing in this entry. There are picture puzzles that make you curious about the people. Some are easy to solve, others more difficult. It is particularly noteworthy that many women were included as important personalities in mathematics.
Special mention was made of Valentina Jelic’s individual submission entitled “Kings of Math”, a lion drawn with artistic skill, which exerts a fascination and attracts attention and thus also to the personalities depicted around it.
We would like to thank the German Mathematical Society for holding the Gauss Lecture and our sponsors for their support:
