A. Tesseract: A Brooch of Many Dimensions

2009 | oxidized steel, silver

This brooch pays homage to the novella Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott, and to our limited perception as humans. The book’s protagonist A. Square is a two-dimensional being that is visited by a sphere, which teaches him about the third dimension. A. Square is in the same position as us humans when we try to understand the fourth dimension: The whole idea is just over our head, and it takes a lot of analogies to make it more tangible.

As easy as a point in the fourth dimension can be described mathematically, as hard it is to actually visualize it. This brooch’s pattern shows what it looked like if a four-dimensional cube (a “tesseract”) made of wire would cast a shadow onto a flat surface.

| Photo 1, 2 and 4 by Clemens Nestroy |