Crocheting the Hyperbolic Plane

July 16 – August 14, 2005
Machine Project (Los Angeles)

A collaboration between the Institute For Figuring and Machine Project
Curated by Margaret and Christine Wertheim

Machine Project Gallery

Gallery Talk: Sunday August 7, by mathematician Daina Taimina
Crochet Workshop: Sunday August 7, 4 pm
Hyberbolic Exhibition Catalog: designed by Kimberly Varella and Margaret Wertheim

Until the nineteenth century, mathematicians knew about only two kinds of geometry: the Euclidean plane and the sphere. It was a deep shock to their community to find that there existed a completely other spatial structure, one whose existence was only discerned by overturning a two-thousand-year-old prejudice about “parallel” lines. The discovery of hyperbolic space in the 1820’s and 1830’s marked a turning point in mathematics and initiated the formal study of non-Euclidean geometry. Almost two centuries later, Daina Taimina a mathematician at Cornell University made a physical model of the hyperbolic plane – a feat many mathematicians had believed was impossible – using crochet. With hook and yarn the properties of this unique space become manifest to our eyes and hands, enabling tactile exploration of a structure once thought impossible. This exhibition presents a collection of crochet models demonstrating the various mathematical qualities of hyperbolic space. The exhibition catalog itself has been designed as a hyperbolic book. At a hands-on workshop on the opening night visitors can construct their own catalogs.

For more information about hyperbolic space and crochet see the IFF's online exhibit and documentation of the Machine Project exhibition.

See also the Los Angeles Times review.