Erdös-Bacon number is a system of measurement that describes the closeness of mathematicians to the entertainment industry. Choice of profession has, in the past, been a strong marker of an individual’s identity. As the job market becomes increasingly flexible what happens to this coherence?

 

This work was conceived during a residency with the IMS group (mathematicians and artists). Two subjects were interviewed about their past careers as both performers and mathematicians. Like a Möbius strip, the film is constructed to be looping with a twist in the centre where they subjects switch from being one thing to another.

 

The Erdös-Bacon number is represented through a collage of the two subjects’ biographical detail. The framing of the subjects reinforces the idea of measurement, freeing each person from being a fully identifiable whole.

 

Video can be viewed at: http://vimeo.com/jessicatsang/erdosbaconcredits

Password: Brunei

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Video can be viewed at: http://ninateka.pl/film/jessica-tsang-erdos-bacon-number