Science/Art (2011)

by Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine

The Science/Art print consists of the crease pattern (top) and 3D folded form (bottom) of a folding design.

This print was first exhibited as part of the juried Exhibition of Mathematical Art at the Joint Mathematics Meetings of the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America, January 4–7, 2012, Boston, Massachusetts.   See their webpage about this piece.

One of the prints is in the Bridges Mathematical Art Collection.

Description

The crease pattern on top of this print folds into both SCIENCE and ART, as shown on the bottom of this print (not to scale). The rectangular paper sheet folds into the 3D structure of the word SCIENCE, while the gray inking in the sheet (top) forms the inked ART in the background (bottom). The message is that science and art can exist on a common plane, as two different perspectives of the same object.

The crease pattern was designed using an algorithm by Demaine, Demaine, and Ku (2010), which describes how to efficiently fold any orthogonal “maze” (including word outlines like SCIENCE) from a rectangle of paper. Red lines fold one way and blue lines fold the other way. To experiment with other designs, try our Maze Folder.

Details

Material: Framed print, elephant hide paper.
Dimensions: 22" × 28"
Limited edition of 200

Series

This piece is part a series of prints mixing folded and inked messages, described in more detail in our first piece, Yes/No (2011).

Last updated May 7, 2014 by Erik Demaine.Accessibility