The algorithms of art

"I’m a mathematician by training but lately, I’ve started to become very interested in how mathematics can help us trust algorithms," says Kate Smith-Miles, professor of Applied Mathematics and Chief Investigator with the ARC Centre of Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers.

“Algorithms are everywhere, and how we can trust them is becoming a really pressing issue. The good news is that mathematics and statistics offer some really valuable tools for us to be able to develop this trust.”

Professor Smith-Miles’ research quest to stress-test optimisation algorithms has led to a large collection of intricate and beautiful 2D images, contour plots of mathematical functions that have been mathematically generated to create challenging landscapes.

“The research took a direction where we’re trying to deliberately generate diverse problems, unique problems [to test the algorithms]”, Professor Smith-Miles says.

“It turns out, we were able to visualise them as beautiful 2D images. We had so many, that it turned into a new motivation to try to create an artwork.

But mathematics wasn’t something Professor Miles-Smith had considered as a career path.

“During Year 12, I had a mathematics teacher who really helped me understand some beautiful things about mathematics, and it was just scratching the surface,” she says.

“I got to the end of Year 12, and I thought, no, that can’t be the end of it; I have to keep going with this because I’ve just got a little glimpse of what this might actually be.”

Episode recorded: October 13, 2020.

Interviewer: Dr Andi Horvath.

Producer, audio engineer and editor: Chris Hatzis.

Co-producers: Silvi Vann-Wall and Dr Andi Horvath.

Banner image: Supplied.