Meshes with Fernando Zalamea

Professor of Mathematics at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Fernando Zalamea, joins Theatrum Mundi’s programme curator, Andrea Cetrulo to discuss how mathematical concepts can be applied to other disciplines such as philosophy, literature and architecture. In his book America: Una trama integral, recently translated into English as America: An Integral Weave, Fernando explores the particularities of America as a hybrid, formed by a multiplicity of creeds, ethnic groups, sensibilities, and artistic influences, which together form a form a weave or mixture reflecting the local and the universal. 

For a long time Latin America has occupied a marginal or peripheral position within the established world order, a position that far from resulting in isolationism or mimicry, blends and constructs new cosmogonies and realities.  Our guest brings a rich selection of instances in which this hybridity has manifested in mathematical thought, philosophy, art and architecture. He is interested in the relationship between the local and the universal, the ‘pendularity’ or back and forth that will give rise to artists such as Frank Gehry, Anselm Kiefer, the Uruguayan artists Joaquin Torres Garcia and Vaz Ferreira and Colombian architect Rogelio Salmona. 

Curated and hosted by Andrea Cetrulo
Illustration by Sophie Rogers for Theatrum Mundi 
Design by Marcos Villalba

Sound Editor: William Messenger