Irrational Symbolic Thinking
On Display in June
An irrational number is a never ending, never repeating decimal. An imaginary number exists1 and creates a complex system that explains observed phenomena.1, 2 Equations are symbolic representations of concepts, abiding metaphors,2 ideas, dreams,3 and thoughts.
It can be tempting to imagine our skulls to be like the walls of the gallery – blank canvases to house our autonomous creations. Like the gallery wall and Plato’s cave, our minds and bodies4 have contexts that determine possible interpretations of shadows on the wall, obscuring which questions are “unreasonable” to ask.5
But let’s peel back a few layers? After all, knowledge is a collective pursuit.*
A detailed full proof here:
“Answers and Explanations — Do “Imaginary Numbers” Really Exist?” by Philip Spencer www.math.toronto.edu/mathnet/answers/imaginary.html.
And for some other helpful explanations:
https://www.reddit.com/r/askmath/comments/z4qxsk/can_anyone_explain_what_imaginary_number_are_what/
2 See Chanda Prescod-Weinstein’s discussion of abiding metaphors and science in her book The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry and the Cosmic Dream Boogie.
3 Srinivasa Ramanujan is regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time and the“the man who knew infinity,” as the film with the same title tells. He figured out the equations in his notebooks through mysticism, his faith and dreams.
4 The mind/body split that may seem natural or common sense to people in the Western philosophical traditions is not so universal and has been pushed back upon by many. One place to start is Julian Frazier, PhD’s article “Indigenous Wisdom Reveals the Truth about the Mind-Body Connection”: https://medium.com/@julian.frazier.phd/indigenous-wisdom-reveals-the-truth-about-the-mind-body-connection-c8c5ec1b0451
5 For more on what questions are reasonable and unreasonable to ask, see the paper: Cognitive Sociology: between the personal and the universal mind by Eviatar Zerubavel, published by The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Sociology.
6 Nataille Wynn, ContaPoints, in her video essay “Conspiracy” makes this excellent point.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teqkK0RLNkI
More on her work: https://www.contrapoints.com/
Artist Bio
Quinn Keck (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist who investigates concepts in sociology, physics, technology and philosophy. Working across printmaking, artists books, creative coding, and installation, their work discusses memory, perception and grief through questioning the manifestation of systems. They have been an instructor and printmaker in residence at Women’s Studio Workshop, Kala Art Institute, and Zea Mays Printmaking and their work has been shown at Gray Area, Root Division, the Richmond Art Center, Highpoint Center for Printmaking, and Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair. Their process is one of constantly iterating on new and old images, just as we all are a series of imperfect versions of ourselves improving each iteration but never fully finished.
