Sonic Mathematical Blossom – Pseudospherical Trinity (from Kuen): Haegue Yang’s “Mathematical Plants” Sculpture

A newly commissioned artwork for Hyundai Motor Group headquarters in Yangjae, Seoul

International artist Haegue Yang, commissioned by Hyundai Motor Company, has created a new artwork for the renovated lobby of the Hyundai Motor Group headquarters in Yangjae, Seoul. Yang’s work began with the premise that the engineering technology on which Hyundai Motor Group is built originates in pure mathematics. While searching for a way to visualize this idea, she recalls a model of “Kuen Surface” housed at the Institut Henri Poincaré in Paris.
Known for its unique aesthetic structure, the Kuen Surface is a form
studied by the mathematician Theodor Kuen, characterized by constant
negative curvature. The model was then dismantled, mirrored, and
recomposed into three distinct forms to produce plant-like structures. By
rendering mathematical formulas into organic, aesthetic forms, the
artwork evokes the relationship between fundamental research and future
innovation on which the company is founded.