Read more about the Crochet Coral Reef project and learn how to make your own hyperbolic crochet.
View or download How To Crochet Hyperbolic Corals here!
Thank you to everyone who submitted a coral!
Email tang@skidmore.edu with questions.
All times are Eastern Standard Time
11 am–12 pm: Curator’s tour of the Saratoga Springs Satellite Reef
Part of the worldwide Crochet Coral Reef project by Christine and Margaret Wertheim and the Institute For Figuring.
1–1:15 pm: Welcome
Ian Berry, Tang Dayton Director
Rebecca McNamara, Tang Associate Curator
1:15-2:30 pm: “Threads Throughout History”
Elissa Auther, Craft Curator and Scholar
Dario Robleto, Artist
2:45–4 pm: “Making Visible: Math, Craft, Culture”
John Sims, MathArtist, Writer, and Curator
Jeffrey Splitstoser, Anthropologist
Daina Taimina, Mathematician and Artist
Moderated by Stephen Ornes, Science Writer
4–4:30 pm: Day 1 Discussion
A Zoom conversation open to all attendees to meet and talk about the first day of the symposium. Moderated by Associate Curator Rebecca McNamara.
All times are Eastern Standard Time
11 am–12 pm: Curator’s Tour of Radical Fiber: Threads Connecting Art and Science
1–2:15 pm: “Textiles, Technology, and Social Good”
Trisha L. Andrew, Materials Scientist, Inventor, Entrepreneur
Emilie Giles, Researcher, Artist, and Educator
Ursula Wolz, Computer Science Educator and Textile Crafter
Moderated by Aarathi Prasad, Computer Scientist
2:30–3:45 pm: “The Future of Textiles and Sustainability”
Preeti Arya, Textile Professional and Consultant
Juan Hinestroza, Nanotechnologist and Inventor
Alissa Sandra Baier-Lentz, Fashion Industry Entrepreneur
Moderated by Nurcan Atalan-Helicke, Food Studies Scholar
3:45–4:15 pm: Day 2 Discussion
A Zoom conversation open to all attendees to meet and talk about the first day of the symposium. Moderated by Associate Curator Rebecca McNamara.
Read more about the Crochet Coral Reef project and learn how to make your own hyperbolic crochet.
View or download How To Crochet Hyperbolic Corals here!
Thank you to everyone who submitted a coral!
Email tang@skidmore.edu with questions.
About the Crochet Coral Reef
The Crochet Coral Reef is project created by sisters Christine Wertheim and Margaret Wertheim of the Institute For Figuring. Residing at the intersection of mathematics, marine biology, handicraft, and community art practice, the project responds to the environmental crisis of global warming and the escalating problem of oceanic plastic trash by highlighting not only the damage humans do to earth’s ecology, but also our power for positive action. The Wertheims’ Crochet Coral Reef collection has been exhibited worldwide, including at the 2019 Venice Biennale, Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh), Hayward Gallery (London), Science Gallery (Dublin), and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History (Washington, DC). The project also encompasses a community-art program in which more than 20,000 people around the world have participated in making 50 locally based Satellite Reefs—in New York, Chicago, Melbourne, Ireland, Latvia, UAE, and elsewhere. The Saratoga Springs Satellite Reef on display here is the latest addition to this ever-evolving wooly archipelago.
About the Artists
Margaret Wertheim is a science writer, artist, and author of books on the cultural history of physics. Christine Wertheim is an experimental poet, performer, artist, and writer, and a faculty member at the California Institute of the Arts. Margaret and Christine conduct the Crochet Coral Reef project through their Los Angeles–based practice, the Institute For Figuring, which is dedicated to “the poetic dimensions of science and mathematics.” The IFF is at once an art endeavor and a framework for innovative public science engagement.
Join Lucy Beizer ’19 for step-by-step instructions to crochet a hyperbolic plane.
Video edited by Fatou Diop ’23.