Many people get familiar with the appearance of the virus due to the sweepingly spreading of the COVID-19 around the world.
Most viruses, especially coronaviruses, are existing in the icosahedral geometry.
The viral icosahedral capsid protein protein is composed of 20 triangles, and each triangle is an arrangement of protein units. In 1962, biologists Donald Caspar and Aaron Klug discovered that most viruses were structured similarly to the geometry construct of Fuller dome. After that, the German mathematician Reidun Twarock proposed to develop a virus geometry theory based on the symmetry of icosahedron.
The icosahedron is a type of Platonic polyhedron, as well as one of only five regular polyhedrons. It is highly symmetrical: there are 120 ways to rotate or reflect it while keeping it unchanged; its vertices can collectively form five groups of three golden rectangles that are concentric and perpendicular to each other. The icosahedron is a perfect structure of geometry.
These wonderful properties of icosahedron remind us of the Dutch artist Gerard Caris' sculptures based on the dodecahedron at the beginning of the last century.
Drawing on the creative ideas of Gerard Caris, we designed a set of playable building bricks based on the icosahedron, which can not only lead children to be familiar with the properties of the perfect geometry of icosahedron but also can train their three-dimensional thinking during this long quarantine holiday.
The triangle and icosahedron are the main elements of this series of works. We hope to integrate aesthetics and mathematical logic in this series of attempts.
There is an esthetic at work here that has grown very close to geometry, mathematics, crystallography, one can also think of the breakthrough of fractals in modern art. This esthetic is not seldom associated with the experience of beauty that scientists and especially also mathematicians have already experienced for ages wile designing, thinking through and contemplating their theories and models. Many scientists have testified how the idea of beauty has led them in their discoveries, beginning with Galileí en Kepler to Einstein and Heisenberg, just to name a few.
As critics described the art works of Gerard Caris: The relief structure suddenly appears to tell something, to unveil something from the absolute, the infinity of the universe. It suddenly shows us a structure which is normally invisible.
It's the panta rei of elementary things.
All materials can be made with scissors and paper.
Instruction
1, Read the description of Challenge of Icosahedron, understand the geometric logic of icosahedron, and its relationship with the form of virus.
2, Download the drawing on our website.
3, Print the drawing.
4, Cut out along the lines and bend the paper along the dotted lines.
5, Make an icosahedron with glues.
6, Think about what you what to create and try to describe it, then graffiti with colored paper or pens.
7, Combine several icosahedrons, create a sculpture that fits the theme that you described before.
8. Share your art works on social media.
