Ars Mathematica
Ars Mathematica is a Paris-based international nonprofit organization connecting art, science, and technology through projects focused especially on digital sculpture.
Last updated August 26, 2026
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Overview
Ars Mathematica is a Paris-based international nonprofit organization established in 1992 by Christian Lavigne and Alexandre Vitkine. Its purpose is to encourage interaction between artistic practice, scientific thinking, and technological development, with digital sculpture serving as a central area of activity. Rather than operating as a conventional commercial brand, Ars Mathematica functions as a cultural and experimental platform: it brings artists, technologists, researchers, educators, and audiences together around new forms of sculptural production and presentation. The organization is best known for Intersculpt, a biennial exhibition series devoted to digital sculpture. The exhibitions provided a setting for works created or materially realized through digital tools, computer modeling, telecommunications, and networked collaboration. This focus placed Ars Mathematica within the early history of internet-enabled and digitally mediated art, when artists were testing whether sculpture could be conceived, transmitted, modified, and produced across geographical distance. The second Intersculpt exhibition, held in 1995, was jointly sponsored by the United States-based Computer and Sculpture Forum. One of its notable experiments was a transatlantic videoconference linking Philadelphia and Paris. Participants used the connection to develop a shared sculpture titled “The Temple Hands,” based on a concept by David Morris. The event also included what has been described as the first transatlantic telesculpture: Stewart Dickson transmitted a work through the Internet, after which it was materialized in Paris. These projects demonstrated Ars Mathematica’s interest in technology not merely as a display medium, but as an active instrument for collaborative creation and physical production. From 1996 onward, many digital sculptures presented through Intersculpt were also made available in Active Worlds, a multi-user virtual environment. The works were shown in the DAAP zone, which was founded, curated, and managed by Derrick Woodham, professor emeritus of the University of Cincinnati. This extension into a virtual world broadened the organization’s exhibition model from physical events to persistent online environments, allowing digital sculpture to be experienced in a space designed specifically for networked interaction. Ars Mathematica’s public identity is therefore closely tied to experimentation, international exchange, and the cultural implications of emerging technologies. Its activities are more accurately understood as exhibitions, artistic commissions, online presentation, and interdisciplinary cultural programming than as conventional products. Publicly available reference material provides limited information about its later organizational structure, financial position, staff, or current program, so its present operational status should be treated as unconfirmed.
History
Ars Mathematica was founded in Paris in 1992 by Christian Lavigne and Alexandre Vitkine as an international nonprofit organization dedicated to relationships among art, science, and technology. Its principal specialization was digital sculpture, a field in which computer modeling, electronic communication, virtual environments, and digitally controlled fabrication could alter both the making and exhibition of sculptural work. Beginning in 1993, the organization organized Intersculpt, a biennial exhibition of digital sculpture. The exhibition series gave artists and collaborators a framework for showing computer-generated or technologically mediated sculptural works while also examining how digital systems could change the traditional relationship between an artist, an object, and its audience. Intersculpt became the clearest expression of Ars Mathematica's institutional identity. The 1995 edition, Intersculpt '95, was jointly sponsored by the United States-based Computer and Sculpture Forum. Its program included a transatlantic videoconference between Philadelphia and Paris. During the event, participants produced a shared sculpture called “The Temple Hands,” developed from a concept by David Morris. The exhibition also featured an Internet-based transmission by Stewart Dickson. His sculpture was sent electronically from the United States and then materialized in Paris, an early example of telesculpture carried out across national borders. After 1996, many digital sculptures presented at Intersculpt were also displayed in Active Worlds, a multi-user virtual world. These works were located in the DAAP zone, founded, curated, and managed by Derrick Woodham, professor emeritus of the University of Cincinnati. The move connected Ars Mathematica's physical exhibition program with an online, persistent environment in which digital works could be viewed and experienced without being limited to a single gallery or event. Taken together, these activities show an organization concerned with the practical and conceptual consequences of digital communication for sculpture. Ars Mathematica treated networks as a means of artistic collaboration, digital files as potential carriers of sculptural form, and virtual environments as legitimate exhibition spaces. The available reference material documents its founding, early Intersculpt exhibitions, transatlantic projects, and Active Worlds activity, but does not provide sufficient information about subsequent exhibitions, current leadership, funding, legal structure, or present-day operations.
- 1996
Digital sculptures appear in Active Worlds
[1]Many works from Intersculpt began to be displayed in the DAAP zone of Active Worlds, curated and managed by Derrick Woodham.
- 1995
Intersculpt '95 presents transatlantic telesculpture
[1]The second Intersculpt show, jointly sponsored by the Computer and Sculpture Forum, connected Philadelphia and Paris through videoconferencing and Internet-enabled sculpture projects.
- 1995
The Temple Hands is created collaboratively
[1]A shared sculpture titled “The Temple Hands,” based on a concept by David Morris, was produced through a transatlantic videoconference linking participants in Philadelphia and Paris.
- 1995
Internet transmission of a sculpture to Paris
[1]Stewart Dickson sent a sculpture through the Internet for physical materialization in Paris, an early documented transatlantic telesculpture associated with Ars Mathematica.
- 1993
First Intersculpt exhibition
[1]Ars Mathematica began its biennial digital-sculpture exhibition program under the Intersculpt name.
- 1992
Ars Mathematica is founded
[1]Christian Lavigne and Alexandre Vitkine founded the Paris-based international nonprofit organization to promote connections between art, science, and technology, particularly through digital sculpture.
Products and positioning
An experimental, nonprofit cultural organization positioned at the intersection of digital sculpture, telecommunications, virtual environments, science, and contemporary art.
Biennial digital-sculpture exhibition · 1993
Intersculpt
Intersculpt is Ars Mathematica's recurring exhibition platform for digital sculpture. It brings together works and experiments involving computer-based creation, telecommunications, digital fabrication, and virtual presentation. The program is significant for treating networked communication as part of the sculptural process rather than merely as a method of promotion or documentation.
Telematic collaborative sculpture · 1995
The Temple Hands
The Temple Hands was a shared sculpture developed during Intersculpt '95 through a videoconference between Philadelphia and Paris. The project was based on a concept by David Morris and demonstrated how geographically separated participants could contribute to a single sculptural work through telecommunications.
Virtual-world exhibition · 1996
Intersculpt Active Worlds presentations
From 1996, many digital sculptures associated with Intersculpt were presented in the DAAP zone of Active Worlds. This initiative gave the works an online exhibition context and extended Ars Mathematica's program beyond temporary physical exhibitions.
Recent events
- 1996
Intersculpt works enter the Active Worlds virtual environment[1]
Other
Digital sculptures shown at Intersculpt began to be presented in the DAAP zone of Active Worlds, extending Ars Mathematica's exhibition activity into a shared online environment.
- 1995
Intersculpt '95 links Philadelphia and Paris through telematic sculpture[1]
Product launch · Other
The second Intersculpt exhibition involved a transatlantic videoconference and collaborative sculpture-making between Philadelphia and Paris. The program also included an Internet transmission of a sculpture by Stewart Dickson that was materialized in Paris.
- 1993
Ars Mathematica organizes its first Intersculpt exhibition[1]
Other
Ars Mathematica began organizing a recurring exhibition devoted to digital sculpture, establishing Intersculpt as its principal public program.
Sources2 sources
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