MaThCryst forthcoming activities

Summer School, June 2023, Nancy (France)

Eleventh basic and second advanced training course on symmetry and group theory, July 2023, Tsukuba (Japan)

The enchanting crystallography of Moroccan ornaments

Satellite Conference of the ECM-24

Marrakech, Morocco, 20-22 August 2007

The XXIV European Crystallographic Meeting was held from 22 to 27 August 2007 in Marrakech, Morocco.

The IUCr MaThCryst commission has organized a Satellite conference on Art and Crystallography devoted to the analysis of the Moroccan ornaments.

Venue

The satellite conference was held from 20 to 22 August, 2007. The first two days consisted of lectures delivered at the hotel Ryad Mogador Menara 5*, located in front of the Congress Palace where the main conference will be held. The last day has been devoted to an excursion to the Kasbah de Telouet, site renown for the richness of its ornaments.

Scientific director and guide of the excursion was Prof. Emil Makovicky, University of Copenhagen.

Program

Day 1

9:00-10:30: Symmetry in two dimensions (Takeo Matsumoto)
10:30-11:00 Coffee break
11:00-12:30: A crystallographer's view of Islamic ornaments: from Morocco to Iran and from plane groups to quasicrystals, part I (Emil Makovicky)
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-15:30: A crystallographer's view of Islamic ornaments: from Morocco to Iran and from plane groups to quasicrystals, part II (Emil Makovicky)
15:30-16:00: Coffee break
16:30-18:30: Design and Construction of Islamic Geometric Patterns: historical Methodology and Contemporary Interpolation (Jay Bonner) cancelled

Day 2

9:00-10:30: Kaleidoscope of Moroccan ornamental art - a mathematician's view, part I: overview of the geometric decorative style in traditional Moroccan architecture, and some of its connections to contemporary mathematics. (Jean-Marc Castéra)
1. Generals concepts and examples. 2D or 3D decoration : Zellij panels and muqarnas structures. Different families in terms of main symmetry (octagonal, triangular or pentagonal...).
2. Bidimensional decoration : the art of Zellij. The octagonal family, a morphogenetic point of view. Elements of design technique. Relations with the mathematics notions of self-similarity and octagonal quasicrystals.
3. Tridimensional decoration : the muqarnas structures, a modular technique. The main units. The "àmap": a system of plane representation. The octagonal family. Examples with alternative symmetry. Relations with octagonal quasicrystals.
10:30-11:00 Coffee break
11:00-12:30: Kaleidoscope of Moroccan ornamental art - a mathematician's view, part II: workshop (Jean-Marc Castéra)
1. Immersion in the art of Zellij with the "Zellij multipuzzle". 3 groups of 4 persons working together.
2. From printed examples, learn to recognize different variations of the same pattern, its general structure (the "skeletton"), and its possible irregularities.
3. Working with muqarnas. Experimentations with units. Drawing a map. Interpretation of a part of octagonal plane quasicrystal in terms of muqarnas
12:30-14:00 Lunch
14:00-15:30: Artist's and artisan's approach to, and practical realization of, Islamic ornaments (Jamal Benatia, Abdelaziz Jali, Abdelmalek Thalal)
15:30-16:00: Coffee break
16:30-18:00: Presentation of the trip to the Kasbah of Telouet (Emil Makovicky)

Day 3: Excursion to the Kasbah of Telouet: assisted practicals.

Didactic material

Didactic material from the lectures is available for download (25.1 Mb).

Partial group photo in the Kasbah of Telouet (click to enlarge)

List of participants
Family name	Given name	Country
BENATIA	Jamal	Morocco
CASTERA	J. Marc	France
DEPMEIER	Wulf	Germany
DOORYHEE	Eric	France
EL AZHARI	MOHAMED	Morocco
FUJIMOTO	Kenjiro	Japan
GAVEZZOTTI	Angelo	Italy
GLINNEMANN	Jurgen	Germany
GUASCH	Alicia	Spain
HAAKE	Annegret	Germany
HAHN	Theo	Germany
JALI	Abdelaziz	Morocco
KHACHANE	Manar	Morocco
LITVIN	Daniel	USA
MAKOVICKY	Emil	Danemark
MANSORI	Mohamed	Morocco
MATSUMOTO	Takeo	Japan
MIYASAKA	Keiichi	Sweden
NESPOLO	Massimo	France
NEUMANN	Wolfgang	Germany
NOWACK	Ellen	Germany
SCHMIDT	Martyn	Germany
SU	Hong	Sth Afr
TARANTINO	Serena	Italy
THALAL	Abdelmalek	Morocco
WORLE	Michael	Switzerland
ZEMA	Michele	Italy
ZÜRN	Anke	Switzerland

The Organizers of the ECM-24 Satellite Conference on Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography have observed the basic policy of non-discrimination and affirms the right and freedom of scientists to associate in international scientific activity without regard to such factors as citizenship, religion, creed, political stance, ethnic origin, race, colour, language, age or sex, in accordance with the Statutes of the International Council for Science. At this conference no barriers existed which would have prevented the participation of bona fide scientists.

Last update:
24 September 2007

International Union of Crystallography Commission on Mathematical and Theoretical Crystallography