The Bridges Conference, created in 1998, is an international mathematical conference which tryｓ to bridge the two different worlds of science and art. It was the 8^th conference that was held on July 31 to Aug.3 this year entitling Renaissance Banff, which was held at the beautiful site ofBanff Center,Canada with having approx.150 participants from all over the world. Ken and I were very honored  and happy to be part of it this summer.

“Renaissance” was the time in Europe when art and science were flourished together, so it was named “Renaissance Banff” this time. It was not only the mountains and the nature that was beautiful about the conference., all the exhibition work by artists and scientists were just as exquisite and divine. Mosaic tiles, mandala-like quilts, pencil-colored beautiful diagram of wonder of number, unbelievably complicated shapes of potteries which had many inner pockets, handmade copper models of geometry with flexible vertex, all wonderful creation of forms.

Among the exhibited works, the outstanding model kits of gigantic 120 and 600 Cantellated cells models of Zometools were constructed at the entrance hall of Max-Bell Auditorium which was the main hall of the conference. It was almost 1.5meter high which stood solid and still. The amazingly  intricated and colorful 600 cell model was achieved after one full day of devotion of David Richter and Dan Daddy with by-products of hyper- blisters. I tried to contribute some myself, which ambition withered after making only one plain form which was hard enough to construct because of the special spec of the nodes.

Another model was achieved in half-a-day with the help of children and George Hart, who I think is a genius of giving workshops on geometry. It was so wonderful to see the people work together on Zome. The spectacular translunary- planet-like models incorporating all the wonders of lines and forms graciously welcomed people coming into the auditorium during the conference and they are still denoting their radiating existence of gemometry in Banff Center For more details of the amazing construction;
http://homepages.wmich.edu/~drichter/bridgeszome2005.htm

One of the purposes for us to participate the conference was to introduce the dedication of the latest book of Prof. Koji Miyazaki; Hyper Science to Prof..Coxeter. Together with the Bridges Conference, there was one-day program of Coxeter Day to commemorate his great achievements. When we reached Banff Center after 24hours of traveling from Japan, we met Robert Moody, who was a committee member of Coxeter Day, who immediately suggested to read it out at the opening of the Coxeter’s day. Not only that, he showed us a beautiful and tranquil walking path along the river right off theBanffCenter. So he was the guide for us. Thanks to his wonderful insight and the suggestions by Christian Rousseau, the acknowledgement of the dedicated book was shared with profound sympathy and understanding among the participants on Coxeter Day., and  I was very honored to be able to have conveyed the message.

After coming back toJapan, we visited Dr. Miyazaki at the beautiful area of Kyoto, Higashiyama, and told him about the conference. He was happily listening to our report, and said that the most important part of the message was that none of the works that are introduced in his book are of his original concepts.  I am always so amazed at the fact that people who have achieved so much often are the most humble ones. We are very grateful to the open-heartedness of all the people whom we met at the conference for the wonderful inspirations we received from them, especially to Reza Sarhangi for all the arrangements he has done for the conference. The Bridges Conference enhances the immense possibility of encounter and evolution of human wisdom and creativity thereof. We hope this linkage that was created by the Bridges will grow to further flourish in the future.