Frieze Tables
Fabrication
Tables Themselves
The two chains of small tables were added to the blueprint of Mathemalchemy early on, to ensure that visitors would not step onto the platform base. At first, the tables were envisioned as small horizontal blackboards on which visitors could make drawings with chalk to explain mathematical observations to each other. This idea was abandoned as impractical because it would create too much dust and the tops would require regular cleaning by venue personnel.
The tabletop shapes were designed by Dominique Ehrmann, and realized by Gavin Smith and Alfred Kennet.
The small tables around the platform at the first venue where they were part of the installation (with Stéphan LaCourse standing behind them).
Dominique and Stéphan designed the structures supporting the small tables. Although the legs and crossbars provided stability as well as elegance, it turned out that the tables could be too easily toppled onto the installation by eager spectators; extra spacer bars were soon added to prevent this (not mounted yet in the top picture on the right but present in the bottom picture).
Kindly note
Although the tables are designed to be strong enough to support the weight of an average person, visitors are asked NOT to sit on them, to avoid possible accidents.
Tabletop Friezes
The frieze designs using the mouse pattern are by Susan Goldstine, who also adapted them from their original straight progression to one that followed the curves of the tables. Since there are only 15 tables and 17 frieze designs, two tables (C and D) were decorated with a frieze on two sides.
The vectorized designs by Susan were used to laser-cut stencils from self-adhesive plastic sheets, that were carefully stuck in place on the black table tops. We had previously tested that painting with chalk-ink markers inside the stencils, then removing the stencils carefully (with second-hand dental tools) after two coats of paint had dried, would lead to a clean and durable painted design.
Although the tabletops had been part of the overall design from the early stages, they were the last Mathemalchemy item to be fabricated. Before sending the exhibit off on its travels, we mounted it at Duke University to check that nothing would start wilting after standing for a few months, and there was no space to deploy the tables in the classroom where the installation stood for its trial period. Furthermore, we found that the shape of the tabletops produced by Gavin and Alfred had shifted slightly from the blueprint so that the curved mouse templates no longer fit precisely. Therefore, we concentrated on completing other components first, postponing the final stages of the tabletop fabrication to the very end. The trial exhibit was slated to come down in December, ready to be taken to Washington DC in early January, 2022.
In the increasingly urgent run-up to Mathemalchemy’s departure, the tabletop frieze team sprang into action. In October 2021, Susan adapted her stencils to the actual tabletops. Kathy Peterson then laser-cut the revised friezes, and Ingrid Daubechies spent part of the Thanksgiving break using the stencils to paint the designs onto the tabletops. In December 2021, we held a goodbye party and small symposium at Duke, bringing together the members of the Mathemalchemy team, some of whom had never met in-person until then.
Six months later, in June 2022, at the family day event in the Washington DC flagship
building of the National Academy of Sciences, Susan pointed out to Ingrid that one poor white mouse was missing its eye; a well-aimed fingernail flick removed that last bit of overlooked stencil and the mouse was no longer blind. The installation was finally completely done!
