Kristof Fenyvesi

Bridging Art and Mathematics: Introduction

There is a long history of interdisciplinary discussions on the relations between science, mathematics, geometry, art, aesthetics, and artistic praxes. These discussions remain active and pertinent today: the aforementioned relations are explored in various scientific communities, journals, and at conferences. Globally, numerous scholars and artists share a common interest in combining creative thinking, intellectual curiosity, and aesthetic sensibility in their work. Various experts working in different scientific and technological fields are inspired by phenomena that combine mathematical and artistic qualities. Respectively, several contemporary artists, graphic designers, craftsmen, and craftswomen are fascinated by scientific discoveries, mathematics, and geometry and use the formulas and principles of each in different ways in their artistic and creative work.

DIONYSIAN BIOPOLITICS: KARL KERÉNYI'S CONCEPT OF INDESTRUCTIBLE LIFE

Scholar of religion Karl Kerenyis last book, Dionysos, is a grand attempt at reinterpreting ζωη (zoe), the Greek concept of indestructible life, which he distinguishes from βίος (bios), finite life. In Kerenyis view, the meaning and sensual experience of zoe was expressed in its richest form in the Cretan beginnings of the cult of Dionysos. The major characteristics of this cult, as Kerenyi describes, were beyond the cultural, political, and sexual limits of the Christian interpretations of life and nature. Searching for modern analogies to zoe, Kerenyi explains the idea in relation to molecular biologys minimum definition of life. Despite the fact that Kerenyis book contains only minor references to contemporary philosophy, the philosophical consequences of his interpretations of Dionysos are not only radical but outline a notion of biopolitics far in advance of the mid- to late 20 th - century development of it. By the affirmation of indestructible life and animality, Kerenyi proposes a new humanism that moves beyond the limits of Kantian anthropology and also takes a radically different perspective to that of Heideggers philosophy of being, or Agambens notion of biopolitics. According to Kerenyis investigations, since this alternative humanism, which is based on the radical recognition of the individuality and diversity of life forms, was once possible in an earlier stage of human culture, it is possible to reanimate it in order to shape anew how zoe is understood and therefore lived. Our relation to nature can thereby undergo a Dionysian transvaluation and assign us new responsibilities as well as open up a new trajectory for the 21 st -century human.