Through the final display of my project on Thursday, I learned a lot about how people interpret the scientific information portrayed in my creative display. I found out that most of my audience, besides members of the scientific/mathematical community, didn’t know what the Fibonacci sequence is, or the many places it appears in nature. The vast majority of people who I talked to were very fascinated by the plethora of natural examples, and by their own relationship to the Fibonacci spiral. Presenting information about my research and creative process was actually very insightful – prior to the presentation of my project, I didn’t actually know what I was going to say to visitors. As I began conversing with people about my research and creative process, I naturally discovered a way to explain my project that would be both informative and interesting.

At this point, my project’s strengths are it’s visually interesting appearance (people were very intrigued by the mirrored light bulb!), the symbolism of the materials used, and the Fibonacci spiral integrated into the structure of the sculpture. I feel that I was able to effectively portray the Fibonacci spiral’s interconnection of the art and science into my sculpture. One of the weaknesses of my project at this point, however, is the obscurity of this connection. The human connection to the Fibonacci spiral was not immediately evident by simply looking at the display – in order for viewers to understand the message I was trying to convey about the universe’s interconnectedness, I had to give them a brief explanation of my research and thought process. I didn’t mind explaining my thought process to visitors, but the need for an explanation shows me that I could have done a better job visualizing this connection and overall message.

If I were to continue with this project, I would have the opportunity to incorporate feedback from the general public into the creation on my visual display. I would ask people about their own perceptions of the universe, their feelings of connection to it, and their knowledge and understanding of the Fibonacci sequence. Then, I would utilize people’s responses to both create the sculpture, and predict the audience’s emotional reaction to it. This extension/elaboration on my current project would give some very interesting insight into the social and cultural interpretations of the Fibonacci spiral.

This feedback could be a very difficult thing to accurately represent in a visual display, however. Because people would certainly have differing responses and levels of knowledge about the Fibonacci spiral, it could be a tough task to represent all viewpoints in a single, unified display. Overall, I am very content with the way that my project turned out. Regardless, it is always interesting to extend ideas as they develop, as curiosity itself is a never-ending, fractal process.