We are privileged to attend a remarkable evening celebrating the “Number in Time and Space: Exploring Plato’s Fifth Element” exhibition.
“Number in Time and Space” a BYRGA GENIHT Ltd. show
It was great to attend the private preview, a show that not only convenes some of the most important artists in their field but also fields the groundbreaking work of James D. Wenn and James Syrett, cultural consultants from BYRGA GENIHT Ltd. qih whom we work with at Soulton Hall.
The atmosphere at the event was one of excitement and focused intellectual curiosity filled the space.
It was fantastic to see such a diverse and prominent group of attendees, including MPs, archaeologists, scholars, and artists, all united by a shared interest in the profound themes of the exhibition.
Their presence underscored the significance of the show, highlighting its importance beyond the art world alone.
The exhibition itself is a stunning display of collaborative artistry, bridging ancient mathematics with contemporary expression. The works, which feature contributions from artists like Jacob Chandler, Shay Shani, and Caroline Weidman, bring the lost role of the rhombic dodecahedron to life.
Each piece offers a window into a connected web of history, showing how these timeless concepts are embedded in the art and design all around us.
While the exhibition’s core narrative is a revelation in itself, a particularly poignant thread connects it to our own heritage at Soulton Hall—the story of Hannah Deakin. In 1847, she was exploring complex concepts in elite geometry and higher-dimensional spaces, a genius tragically overlooked by her era.
Hannah Deakin who preserved The Dance in the Soulton Pavement.
Her insights, thankfully, were not entirely lost.
Her work, including the secrets of her fiendishly clever dancing pavement, is only now being unlocked through the papers and artifacts she left behind. This narrative of a brilliant woman whose genius was marginalized by the norms of her time echoes the struggles of the trailblazer Ada Lovelace, who is now celebrated as the world’s first computer programmer. The exhibition’s commitment to rediscovering these “lost and found” intellectual traditions makes it even more powerful.
The exhibition’s themes of lost and recovered genius also bring out another remarkable figure deeply connected to Soulton: “Old” Sir Rowland Hill.
Portrait of Sir Rowland Hill, Mercer’s Copy
This Tudor-era statesman and polymath, who was a cousin by marriage to Shakespeare’s mother, Mary Arden, is believed to be the inspiration for a character in Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Sir Rowland was a true Renaissance man—a merchant, a philanthropist, a patron of the arts, and the publisher of the Geneva Bible, a translation that was instrumental in the English Reformation. His influence and his role in navigating the turbulent waters of his time demonstrate how these historical figures laid the groundwork for the intellectual and artistic traditions we continue to explore today.
This exhibition is a journey through history, a celebration of rediscovery, and a powerful reminder that some of the most profound ideas and brilliant minds are simply waiting to be found.
