Tate Shots
Mark Wallinger meets Marcus du Sautoy
Artist Mark Wallinger’s new exhibition SITE at Baltic explores the physical relationship between order and randomness. Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy met with the artist to talk about this new work and the unexpected similarities in the mind of the artist and the mathematician.
Wallinger’s work physically presents the ‘super-perfect’ number 65,536 or 2 to the power of 16, on a giant checkerboard with a single stone placed on each square. In this film these two experts talk about how the mathematician and the artist both search for structure and pattern in their work, be it numerical or aesthetic. While the exhibition explores the sublime tension between order and disorder, this scientist and artist found they had much in common – a shared passion for the infinite possibilities of the imagination whether it be through numbers or images.
Wallinger represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 2001, featuring a new work called Facade which covered the front of the British Pavilion with a photograph of the building.
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