Eightfold way: The sculpture (Q2702553)

The sculpture ``\textit{The eightfold way}'' is a work of art created by the famous mathematical sculptor Helaman Ferguson in the early 1990s. Permanently installed at the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI) since 1993, this sculpture reflects some of the beauty and esthetics of a very remarkable mathematical object. Namely, it is the famous Klein quartic curve that materializes by Ferguson's sculpture, together with its amazing number of symmetries and other geometric peculiarities.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEIn this essay, the artist himself and Claire Ferguson describe the process of creating the sculpture, including the thinking, feeling, and physical making that culminated in this fascinating piece of graphic art. The authors vividly explain the artist's viewpoint: mathematics is an art form, which need not remain invisible; some mathematics evokes art, and some art evokes mathematics. Then, together with many impressive illustrations, they cover the following topics linked with the creation of the sculpture: Ramanujan--Michelangelo, Geometry-Topology, Counting-Philosophy, Geometry Center-MSRI, Serpentine-Marble, Athena-Escher, and Digitization -- The Stewart Platform.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEIt is very amazing to learn, from the artist's report, to what great extent mathematics is intimately related to fine art.NEWLINENEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see Zbl 0941.00006, and Zbl 0991.00005 for a review of the paperback edition.