Jyväskylä Convention Bureau has awarded 2016’s Event of the Year Prize to Bridges Finland 2016. The prestigious prize has been given by the Mayor of Jyväskylä, Timo Koivisto and University of Jyväskylä’s rector, Professor Matti Manninen to the local organizers. The Bridges-related highlights of the award ceremony were Harri Varpanen’s mathematical juggling performance, and a mathematical art exhibit curated by Osmo Pekonen and Kristóf Fenyvesi, based on Experience Workshop’s Traveling Bridges Math-Art Collection. The collection was established from the generous donations of Bridges Finland 2016’s exhibiting artists. After the introduction of Experience Workshop’s Traveling Bridges Math-Art Collection, it will visit in Finnish schools.
The following artists’ works were included in the small exhibit at the award ceremony: Nedeljko Adzic, Juan G. Escudero, Murray Heasman, Carmen Ionescu, Ho Gul Park, David Chappell, Zach Abel, Caleb Sanchez, Katalin Haász, David Thompson, Risto Paju, Vincent J. Matsko, Markus Schwehm, and Phil Webster.
Watch a short videoclip on the award ceremony:
In 2016, the world’s largest mathematics and arts community, Bridges Organization’s annual conference has came to the University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Followed the invitation of JYU Faculty of Information Technology, faculties of JYU and several departments have joined forces to host the colourful Bridges Finland 2016 -events, focusing on mathematical connections in music, art, architecture, education and culture. Based on conference participants’ donations, a collection of mathematical artworks has been established in Jyväskylä. The traveling interactive math-art exhibit is visiting schools all over in Finland.
Bridges Finland 2016 had more than 350 conference participants, and about 1,500 people visited its’ public events, including exhibitions, concerts, public lectures and a public day devoted to children and their families, who could immerse into the fun-world of mathematics and arts connections in dozens of workshops provided by top scholars and artists from all over the world in JYU Agora building.
At Bridges 2016’s Music Night, organized in Mänttä Klubbi, the MIDEM Classical Music Award winner Finnish-American duo, Corey Cerovsek and Paavali Jumppanen enchanted the full-house audience with their concert. The violin virtuoso Cerovsek, being not only a renowned musician, but a mathematician and computer programmer as well, has given a conference talk as well on mathematical connections in classical music.
An exhibition of mathematical art has been an annual feature of Bridges since 2001. This year’s exhibition set a new record for the number of participating artists, over 160 with almost 200 mathematics inspired artworks, exhibited in JYU Agora Building. Artists from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, East Asia, Australia, and North and South America were represented. A wide variety of artistic media was included in the exhibition, including 2D and 3D digital prints, painting, beadwork, ceramics, wood, metal, quilting, clothing, and paper folding. Artists drew inspiration from the mathematics of fractals, polyhedra, non-Euclidean and four-dimensional geometry, tiling, knot theory, number theory, and more. Bridges 2016 on-line art gallery features all exhibited pieces on
http://gallery.bridgesmathart.org/exhibitions/2016-Bridges-Conference
Many of the Bridges-artists has decided to donate their pieces to the Jyväskylä-based Experience Workshop Math-Art Movement, which organize math-art programs in Finnish schools. Now, the collection is constantly growing, accepting donated mathematical artworks all the time and visiting the schools of Finland.
The 2016 edition of the Bridges proceedings includes almost 130 papers on more than 700 pages and accessible for free on www.archive.bridgesmathart.org/2016/
In 2016 Bridges Organization, with the generous support of the mathematician Jade Vinson, was able for the first time to offer $10,000 in student travel scholarships to 11 students from all over the world, who authored accepted papers.
Bridges Organization’s Founder Reza Sarhangi’s Spirit Lives On
1 month prior the Bridges Finland 2016, Bridges Organization lost its founder and president Reza Sarhangi. Reza devoted his life to building the conference and its community. We invite you to read more about the loss of this inspiring person, and to consider donating to two memorial funds that have been launched in his name.
Watch a video on the Reza Sarhangi Memorial Event at Bridges Finland 2016:
Press release in Finnish: https://www.jyu.fi/ajankohtaista/arkisto/2017/01/tiedote-2017-01-19-10-44-53-081216