Crystal Flowers in Halls of Mirrors course - apply now

The course is a unique opportunity to work with your hands and to build an exhibition in a group with many talents - including science.

The course - MS-E1000 Crystal Flowers in Halls of Mirrors: Mathematics meets Art and Architecture - is open to all from bachelor's students to doctoral candidates, from the fields of mathematics and technology to the arts, and from chemistry to business. A maximum of 50 students are expected at the course, and the application period ends 15 December. The course is worth 10 credits and it is held once every two years.

The course has been planned together with Reetta Kalajo Chief Curator at EMMA - the Espoo Museum of Modern Art, and Sanna Katajavuori, Cultural Producer at the Espoo Cultural Centre. The course will have several visiting lecturers. For example, EMMA experts and contracted artists bring out artistic and technical points of view pertaining to the design and implementation of the exhibition. Paul Jackson from Tel Aviv will hold a workshop for students as well as a public lecture on The Art and Science of Folding. Professor Toni Kotnik and producer of the exhibition, Pablo Riquelme, and their support teams will bring the architectural point of view to the course.

‘The course concentrates on setting up the exhibition, which will take place at the Espoo Cultural Centre. Taking part in the course requires more commitment than a theoretical course alone, because it is implemented as teamwork”, says Senior University Lecturer Kirsi Peltonen.

Participation in the course is possible even for those with a limited background in mathematics. Each group will have skilled students with as wide a range of talents as possible. The course is a unique opportunity to see the reality of people from other fields and to do work hands-on.

Mateo Rendon Jaramillo, who studies mathematics, took part in the course in the spring of 2017, and after that, art became an important part of his life.

’The project was a great and unique opportunity for a mathematician who is used to making things logical and working mainly alone. On the course, I got to know people with other interests, such as arts, architecture and fashion design, and they were all also very keen on math. Abstraction is a common topic in the course - in addition to sensory elements, good communication, humour and curiosity of course – math is abstraction and any artist can make an abstraction of ideas.

Megan McGlynn already took the courses Spatial Structures and Shapes in Action that are also part of the Math & Arts minor – integrating mathematics with visual arts, design and architecture. She is currently studying in the Master's Programme in Contemporary Design with a background in fine art and architecture. She aims to participate in the Crystal Flowers in Halls of Mirrors course.

‘It seemed the goal of Math and Arts courses is to show students of different backgrounds that there are many areas of mathematics that are available for exploration, despite differing levels of expertise. I have always been interested in the sciences and grew accustomed to folding information from other fields into my artwork. The course combining math and arts seems like a dream come true.’

To ease the construction process, the Center of Excellence in Laser Scanning headed by Professor Hannu Hyyppä has modelled the facilities of the Cultural Centre, and cooperation will continue during the course.

Further information on the previous implementations of the course and the Math & Arts whole.

Sign up in Oodi.

Send motivational letters as attachments to the MyCourses page of the course.

Kirsi Peltonen
Senior University Lecturer
[email protected]