Warped Realities: The Art of Differential Geometry
A group exhibition at the Composite Gallery, MoMath, bringing together works by Edmund Harriss, Henry Segerman, Steve Trettel, Stepan Paul, Chaim Goodman-Strauss, Robert Fathauer, and Nico Belmonte. The show — described in the proposal as "Straight and curved: artifacts from an abstract world" — creates a wonderland of geometry whose pieces illuminate how geodesics behave on curved surfaces, how holonomy (the Gauss-Bonnet theorem) relates turning to curvature, and how surfaces can deform without changing their intrinsic geometry (Theorema Egregium). Harriss's contributions include: **Geodesic Boards** — twelve 6×12" cherry boards CNC-carved with surfaces and engraved geodesic paths, paired with an online calculator; **Holonomy Blocks** — three interactive pentagonal loop tracks with a movable rook that reveals how parallel transport accumulates turning on spherical (120°), flat (108°), and hyperbolic (90°) surfaces; **2-ply veneer Curvahedra models** — assemblies whose corner angles can be varied to redistribute curvature, showing how the Gauss-Bonnet theorem constrains the overall shape; and **Foam hyperbolic surfaces** — large brightly coloured flexible sheets with negative curvature. The exhibit is subsequently supported by the Simons Foundation for presentation at the 2026 International Congress of Mathematicians.
