Guidance for Submitting and Presenting Bridges Papers

If you have not given a paper at this type of conference before, the following guidance may help. Contact the organisers if you want more information.

It is important to remember that this conference is about making connections between art and mathematics. It is not purely a mathematics conference, or an art conference. Note that by 'art', we mean all areas of artistic work: visual art, architecture, music, literature, poetry, textile art, etc. And by 'mathematics', we mean pure and applied mathematics, also including related areas of science and engineering.

Sample papers

The following papers have been given at previous conferences and provide examples of both type and level of content.

Many papers in recent years have been republished on the web on the Vismath site: www.mi.sanu.ac.yu/vismath. As well as giving you a idea of the content of papers, this site also shows the breadth of topics that are covered and the right level of graphic illustration to provide in a paper.

Chris Palmer’s work on Spiral Tilings with C-Curves: www.mi.sanu.ac.yu/vismath/palmer/scws1b.html

Craig Kaplan’s Bridges 2000 paper on Islamic art: www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/washington/tile/papers/kaplan_bridges2000.pdf (and other papers by Craig: www.cgl.uwaterloo.ca/~csk/pubs.html)

George Hart’s Bridges 2005 paper on sculpture with linked polygons, Orderly Tangles: www.georgehart.com/orderly-tangles-revisited/tangles.htm

Godfried T. Toussaint’s BRIDGES 2002 paper A mathematical analysis of African, Brazilian, and Cuban clave rhythms: cgm.cs.mcgill.ca/~godfried/publications/bridges.pdf

Paul Gailiunas' paper Meanders is an example of a paper which develops mathematical concepts and then discusses artists' work and how they relate to the mathematical forms: Meanders-Paul_Gailiunas-Bridges2005.pdf

Getting the balance between the paper and the talk

You can submit a short paper, length two pages, which outlines your ideas. However, remember that anyone interestged in your talk will not have much detail to refer back to, so please include at least an email address and preferably a website where people can find out more about your ideas.

If you are exhibiting artwork and want to talk about your work informally

Please mention this in your artwork submission. We are planning to have at least one session where artists can sit with their work and discuss it with other participants, and possibly other events.

When writing your paper and preparing your talk

Remember that the conference is about bridges between art and mathematics. You should aim to build those bridges in both your talk and the written paper.

Abstract of the Paper

In the abstract of your paper, you should include at least one sentence which describes the connections between art and mathematics. For example an artist might refer to the area(s) of mathematics on which work is based. If you are coming from a mathematical viewpoint, you should make clear what is the artistic association: for example, you might describe how it can be used artistically, and the work of artist(s) which illustrates what you are talking about; or the mathematics behind a piece of architecture (built or unbuit - with illustrations); or the analysis of a piece of music or musical system.

We plan to put paper abstracts on the web prior to the conference.

The Paper

The paper should cover what you intend to talk about, but will possibly have more technical detail. The paper should describe, in detail, the art/mathematics connections. A paper by an artist may be highly visual, with just a few paragraphs of text, if there are many interesting images of original artwork that clearly convey a mathematical sensibility that speaks for itself.

Papers published in the proceedings must follow the specified format and guidelines for the preparation of the manuscript. We suggest that you download the Word document and use it as a template for writing your paper. If you have trouble downloading the Word file, please email the organizers and we will send it to you as an attachment.

The Review and Revision Process

Your Presentation

• You are talking to an audience with a wide range of abilities and discipline backgrounds. Therefore you should address your talk as much as possible to a mixed audience: the "general public".
• If you have detailed mathematical ideas, such as proofs, you should put them in the written paper and mention that you have done so in your talk.
• You should provide illustrations of the artistic connections (visual, musical or whatever) if you are talking from the mathematical end of the spectrum.
• If you are talking from an artistic viewpoint, you should show your own work, or the work of other artists, and try to communicate what are the intentions of the work and the mathematical ideas involved.
• Remember also that Bridges is not just about talks, it is about meeting people and having discussion. You should be prepared to engage with others about your work and theirs socially outside the formal sessions.