The Kitchener Anamorph: Creating Public Art with Math

Art and Mathematics have a linkage that extends to antiquity. One form of this linkage that arose in the late Renaissance is known by the name "Anamorphic Art". One form of this art has an image distorted in a calculable way so that it is only resolved by observing in a cylindrical mirror. The artist Allan Harding Mackay solicited my help for the design of an Anamorphic art installation commissioned by the City of Kitchener. The problem of designing such a work of Art turned out to be much more complex than one might expect as a simple scaling problem. I will discuss how the various boundary conditions affected the design and how the final design was chosen. I will also give an account of the construction and the dedication of the finished work.

James L. Hunt is Professor Emeritus of the Physics Department at the University of Guelph. He pursued a 36 year career as a teacher and researcher in the area of molecular spectroscopy. During that period he also participated in Curriculum development, publishing several papers on the subject. Since retirement he has worked full time on the area of the intersection of art and mathematics, particularly of Anamorphic Art. In this area he has several publications in print as well as several art installations. He was invited to mount the first non-permanent display in the new Civic Museum in Guelph on the topic of Illusions. Also he has been commissioned by the Physical Science College at Guelph to create a public art installation based on the Penrose "Impossible Triangle". It will be completed in the fall of 2012.