George W. Hart
Dragons is a 30-inch diameter geometric sculpture which I designed for the Math Love Museum in Seoul, Korea.
This video of it rotating gives a good sense of the design.
The parts are laser-cut from 6 mm thick plywood and etched with a pattern of scales.
The sixty pieces flew with me from New York to Korea in my carry-on luggage.
I led an activity at the 2014 Bridges Conference in which participants assembled the components using cable ties.
It took about a half hour to get everything connected.
This is a great way to get people to see some of the fun and creative aspects of mathematics.
When complete, we displayed it temporarily in the Math Love Museum's booth in the exhibition hall.
Then it was later brought to the museum itself.
Before making the wooden parts, I made this smaller test model from laser-cut cardboard, assembled with twist ties.
I also tested the assembly process at the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics at Stony Brook University, where I had an art exhibition.
I love the feeling of motion conveyed by its interwoven structure.
For more information on it and related sculpture, see this paper from 2015 Bridges Conference.
At the conference, there was also a workshop to replicate the structure of my 72 Pencils sculpture from chop sticks.
Hundreds of people participated over the course of a day.