[FOM] Conference on Simplicity

[jkennedy at mappi.helsinki.fi]

Simplicity: Ideals of Practice in Mathematics & the Arts
The Graduate Center, City University of New York
April 3-5, 2013
http://www.s-i-m-p-l-i-c-i-t-y.org/

Lectures by and conversations among twenty-five mathematicians,  
artists, art historians, philosophers, and architects together with  
screenings of artist's films by Andy Goldsworthy (New York premiere),  
David Hammons, Richard Serra, Andy Warhol, and William Wegman.

To find "criteria of simplicity" was the goal of David Hilbert's  
recently discovered twenty-fourth problem on his renowned list of open  
problems given at the 1900 International Congress of Mathematics in  
Paris. At the same time, simplicity and economy of means are powerful  
impulses in the creation of artworks.

Recognizing the aesthetic nature of Hilbert's question, this  
conference aims to focus on criteria of simplicity in mathematics that  
are informed by perspectives from art and architecture, the philosophy  
and history of mathematics, and current mathematical practice.

Invited participants:

Andrew Arana, Philosophy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Rachael DeLue, Art & Archaeology, Princeton University
Juliet Floyd, Philosophy, Boston University
Curtis Franks, Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
Étienne Ghys, Mathematics, École Normale Supérieure, Lyon
Mikhael Gromov, Mathematics, IHES, Paris and New York University
Rosalie Iemhoff, Philosophy, Utrecht University
Hanna Johansson, Philosophy, History, Culture & Art Studies,  
University of Helsinki
Maryanthe Malliaris, Mathematics, University of Chicago
Dusa McDuff, Mathematics, Barnard College, Columbia University
Juhani Pallasmaa, Juhani Pallasmaa Architects, Helsinki
David Reinfurt, designer, New York
Marja Sakari, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki
Amy Sandback, art historian, New York
Peter Sarnak, Mathematics, Institute for Advanced Study & Princeton University
Kate Shepherd, artist, New York
Riikka Stewen, Finnish Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki
Dennis Sullivan, Mathematics, Graduate Center, CUNY & SUNY at Stony Brook
Andrés Villaveces, Mathematics, National University of Colombia, Bogotá
Dan Walsh, artist, New York
Stephen Wolfram, Wolfram Research, Champaign, IL
Hugh Woodin, Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley
Andrea Worm, Art History, University of Augsburg
Norma Claudia Yunez Naude, Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory,  
Aix-Marseille University
Jan Zwicky, Philosophy, University of Victoria

Film program:
Andy Goldsworthy
David Hammons
Richard Serra
Andy Warhol
William Wegman

Organizers:
Juliette Kennedy, Mathematics, University of Helsinki
Roman Kossak, Mathematics, Graduate Center and Bronx Community College, CUNY
Philip Ording, Mathematics, Medgar Evers College, CUNY

For more information and to register, please visit the conference website at
http://www.s-i-m-p-l-i-c-i-t-y.org/

This conference is sponsored by the Clay Mathematics Institute, the  
Finnish Cultural Foundation, FRAME Foundation, the Graduate Center,  
CUNY (Advanced Research Collaborative, Committee for Interdisciplinary  
Science Studies, Comparative Literature Program, Mathematics Program),  
and the National Science Foundation.

_______________________
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Department of Mathematics and Statistics
P.O. Box 68 (Gustaf Hällströmin katu 2b)
FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
tel. (+358-9)-191-51446, fax (+358-9)-191-51400
http://www.helsinki.fi/science/logic