Over the last decade or so, the inherent beauty and elegance of maths has proven fertile territory for video artists looking to put their keen eyes, exacting minds and technical wizardry on display. But as the old proverb goes and this 1966 short film shows, there is nothing new under the sun. A classic production from the National Film Board of Canada, this short animated film sets some 300 transformations, divisions and subdivisions of triangles to a piano waltz, making for a viewing experience that still enchants 50 years later.
Director: René Jodoin
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Mathematics
Spiral into the ‘golden ratio’ – and separate the myths from the maths
4 minutes
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Art
A young Rockefeller collects art on a fateful journey to New Guinea
7 minutes
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History of science
How we came to know the size of the Universe – and what mysteries remain
26 minutes
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Architecture
A lush tour of Fallingwater – the Frank Lloyd Wright design that changed architecture
14 minutes
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Art
Defying classification, fantastical artworks reframe the racism of Carl Linnaeus
8 minutes
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Film and visual culture
Space and time expand, contract and combust in this propulsive animation
5 minutes
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Art
When East met West in the images of an overlooked, original photographer
9 minutes
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History of science
Ideas ‘of pure genius’ – how astronomers have measured the Universe across history
29 minutes
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Earth science and climate
Images carved into film form a haunting elegy for a disappearing slice of Earth
3 minutes