Venice, Glass, and Math

Qwalala (2017) is an installation by Pae White, inspired by a river. It is a wave-shaped wall with a modular structure of colored glass blocks, built for the Venice Biennale. In Qwalala, visual patterns and forms meet the aesthetics of abstract geometries and the elegance of glass. We investigate Qwalala in light of mathematics, with patterns within the bricks, and the bricks seen themselves as patterns within the overall wall structure. We apply some developments of mathematical music theory, Gestural Similarity and Quantum GestArt, envisaging musical renditions of Qwalala’s structure. Then, we extend this formalism to other glass artworks, comparing them via the language of categories. The overall article faces some pedagogical questions: How can visual arts inspire us to develop mathematical formalizations? How can such a mathematical formalization inspire us to create new artworks?