IMAGINARY

IMAGINARY is a project of Math Communication by the Matematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach. Originally developed as an open source traveling exhibition, it has grown to include two full exhibitions ("Through the eyes of mathematics" and "Mathematics of planet Earth"), a collection of user exhibits submitted by particulars, a project of popularization of research in maths (Snapshots of current mathematics), and it also promotes some initiatives for the math outreach community (Math Communication Network). Its exhibitions have been displayed in more than 100 cities in 23 countries, atracting more than 1 milion visitors.

Exhibits from "Through the eyes of mathematics"

• Programs
  • SURFER [1]. Visualization of algebraic surfaces in real time.
  • jReality Exhibit. Videogame-like environment with minimal surfaces and other mathematical objects.
  • Cinderella Applets. A collection of miscellaneous small interactive programs.
  • 3D-XplorMath. Rendering of various collections of surfaces.
  • Morenaments. Drawing patterns with the seventeen wallpaper groups.

• Films
  • LPDJLQH D VHFUHW (Imagine a secret). A film about cryptography and modular curves.
  • Dimensions [2]. Geometry of 2, 3 and 4 dimensions.

• Images
  • Labs gallery. Algebraic surfaces.
  • Pinkall, Schmitt, Gunn and Hoffmann gallery. Differential surfaces and spaces.
  • Hauser gallery. Algebraic surfaces.
  • Leys, Ghys and Alvarez gallery. Screenshots from Dimensions and others.
  • Palais and Benard gallery. Artistic images with mathematical origin.

• Physical
  • Twelve Algebraic Sculptures. 3D printings of algebraic surfaces.
  • Sliced IMAGINARY. Models of algebraic solids constructed interlocking paper sections.

Exhibits from "Mathematics of planet Earth"

• Programs
  • The Sphere of the Earth. Cartographic projections and their distortion.
  • Dune Ash. Spreading of a cloud of volcano ashes with the wind.
  • Five MPE Experiences. Five small programs on cartography, dynamical systems, wator, temperature, and cellular automata.
  • Earthquakes and Structures. Resistence of some structures suffering an earthquake.
  • Rhumb Lines and Spirals. Appearance of rhumb lines on the Earth under a family of map projections.

• Films
  • The future of glaciers. How it is modelled the melting of a glacier in the Alps.
  • Bottles and Oceanography. A home experiment with bottles that shows the convection of water in the ocean depending on salinity and temperature.
  • Berlin Subways – Periodic Timetable Optimization.
  • The Convertible House.
  • Probing the invisible, from the earthquake to the model.
  • Sundials.

• Images
  • The Lorenz attractor.
  • Quasicrystalline Wickerwork.

• Physical
  • Erosion and fractal coasts
  • Where are you?
  • Coriolis force
  • Permeable or impermeable?
  • The melting of glaciers
  • Tectonic Plates
  • Is the core of the Earth solid or liquid?
  • Where is the sun at noon?
  • All maps are wrong!
  • Satellites under control
  • Solitons and Tsunamis
  • Turbulent Weather!
  • From Earth to the sky
  • Fractals objects: models for nature

Projects for the community

IMAGINARY promotes the interaction and collaboration of all people involved in math outreach. This includes the community of math museums and math communications, but also the academic world and the education world. IMAGINARY has started a Math Communication Network for people devoted to math dissemination, which includes a list and map of math museums, periodic newsletters with information not directly related with IMAGINARY, and a set of guidelines for the community known as the Dresden Declaration proposal (this proposal is not endorsed by any institution so far). It is also the administrator of this WikiMathCom.