Invariance of Domain

Anne Lilly & Michael Hopkins

March 24th, 2014

Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard

Kinetic sculptor Anne Lilly uses carefully engineered motion to shift and manipulate our perception of time and space. Employing opposing modalities — analytical and intuitive, rational and emotional — Lilly’s sculptures elicit new connections between the physical space outside ourselves and our own private, psychological domain.

Michael Hopkins studies algebraic topology, which investigates multidimensional shapes through the lens of special algebraic invariants. The field of algebraic topology interacts with nearly every part of mathematics, and often reveals surprising structures through a combination of algebraic and geometric points of view.

Together they explored the idea of invariance of shapes from their particular perspectives, as well as how and where the two points of view overlap. Lilly revealed the importance of using math in developing her ideas, as well as how she intuits structure and form. Hopkins linked his thinking about algebraic topology in his own research to Lilly’s sculpture.