Untitled, cardstock and glue. Contributed by Thomas Sibley.
[180 F, 270 E, 92 V] The producers of Polyplane are honored to include work of the renowned Father Magnus Wenninger (1919-2017). Fr. Magnus, a Benedictine monk, broke new ground by constructing physical realizations of all 75 uniform polyhedra, including many challenging self-intersecting shapes. He went on to write three books on the art and mathematics of constructing polyhedra, producing thousands of distinct models over the course of his career. His work was an inspiration to innumerable other mathematicians and artists.
This construction, representing the self-intersecting Kepler-Poinsot polyhedron with 20 equilateral triangular faces, exemplifies Fr. Magnus’ meticulous and precise crafting. It’s shown in a case in the exhibition (rather than hung) because physically it consists of 180 separately-cut cardstock faces meeting at 270 edges, corresponding to a position roughly eight feet outside the hanging grid of Polyplane.