Hyperbolic crochet coral reef

- About the Crochet Coral Reef
- History of the Coral Reef
- Crochet Reef and Global Warming
- Crochet Reef and Hyperbolic Space
- Crochet Reef and Evolution
- The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
- Plastic Trash and the IFF Midden
- Crocheting Plastic and the Toxic Reef
- The Bleached Reef
- Contributors

- Crochet Reef Workshops and Lectures

 

Crochet Reef Exhbitions

-- Exhibition Schedule
- Report On Crochet Reef Showing in Scottsdale, AZ
- Crochet Reef Showing in Scottsdale, AZ
- Crochet Reef Showing in Los Angeles
- Report on Crochet Reef Exhibition in Los Angeles
- New York and Chicago Reefs in Staten Island
- Plastic Exploding Inevitable Reef in San Francisco
- Crochet Reef Showing in London at the Hayward
- Report On The Crochet Reef in London
- Crochet Reef Symposium at Southbank Center
- New York Exhibitions - Now Showing
- New York Broadway Windows Photos [IFF-G21]
- New York Winter Garden Photos [IFF-G21]
- Chicago Cultural Center Exhibition
- Chicago Exhibition Main Gallery [IFF-G18]
- Chicago Exhibition Toxic Reef Gallery [IFF-G19]
- Chicago Exhibition Chicago Reef Gallery [IFF-G20]
- The Andy Warhol Museum Exhibition [IFF-G11]
- Track 16 Exhibition [IFF-G12]

 

Satellite Reefs

- Introduction
- The Chicago Reef
- The New York Reef
- The UK Reef
- The Scottsdale Reef
- The Sydney Reef
- The Latvian Reef
- Scarsdale Middle School Reef
- The Latvian School Reef



Crochet reef contributors

- Ernst Haeckel, Patron Saint
- Daina Taimina, Inventor of Hyperbolic Crochet
- Christine Wertheim, Crochet Reef Co-Creator
- Margaret Wertheim, Crochet Reef Co-Creator
- Barbara Wertheim, Our Mother
- Evelyn Hardin
- Sarah Simons
- Ildiko Szabo
- Kathleen Greco
- Dr. Axt's Reefer Madness
- Aviva Alter
- Sue Von Ohlsen
- Nadia Severns
- Helle Jorgensen
- Inga Hamilton
- Helen Bernasconi
- Rebecca Peapples
- Marianne Midelburg
- Eleanor Kent
- Anita Bruce
- Clare O'Callaghan
- Arlene Mintzer
- Alicia Escott

- Other Crochet Reefs

OTHER WEB RESOURCES

- Crochet Reef Press Archive
- Crochet Reef Bulletins Archive

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THE CROCHET REEF AND EVOLUTION

Crochet hyperbolic forms by Anitra Menning, Margaret Werthem, Daina Taimina.
In constructing our reef, we at the IFF have taken the techniques initiated by Dr Taimina and elaborated upon them. Over the past two years, through increasingly freeform experimentation, we have discovered that tiny changes in the underlying crochet algorithms will result in major changes to the resulting forms. By exploiting this insight we have gradually evolved a wide taxonomy of hyperbolic crochet “species.” To our surprise, the range of possible forms seems to be endless, yet they all result from extremely simple instruction sets. Just as the teeming variety of living species on earth result from different versions of the DNA-based genetic code, so too a huge range of crochet hyperbolic species have been brought into being through minor modifications to the underlying code. As time progresses the models have “evolved” from the simple purity of Dr Taimina’s mathematically precise algorithms to more complex aberrations that invoke ever more naturalistic forms.
Crochet hyperbolic forms by Marianne Middelberg and Helen Bernasconi.

Anyone who takes up crocheting these structures can begin to develop their own evolutionary pathways and one of the more exciting aspects of the project has been the astonishing variety of forms that have been developed by our collaborators. During the past 4 years the Institute has conducted workshops in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, London and many other cities; each time participants have developed hitherto unexpected forms with innovations of their own. All of these species are being incorporated into the overall Reef, which is quintessentially a collective project. Participants are now invoved from across the USA, from Australia, Canada and the UK. During workshops, discussions arise naturally around the theme of evolution and the parallels between these yarn-based forms and natural living things. The Crochet Reef thus serves to engage audiences on the subject of evolution and to demonstrate playfully how evolution works.

Crochet hyperbolic forms by Margaret Wertheim, Helen Bernasconi, and Daina Taimina.