Velimir Khlebnikov's Laws of Time
Martin Skrodzki, Ulrich Reitebuch, Henriette-Sophie Lipschütz, and Konrad Polthier

Proceedings of Bridges 2020: Mathematics, Art, Music, Architecture, Education, Culture
Pages 321–328
Regular Papers

Abstract

In February 2019, the video artist Kristina Paustian honored the Russian futurist Velimir Khlebnikov with her solo exhibition Laws of Time. The future calculations by Velimir Khlebnikov in Berlin, Germany. Among other aspects, she focused on his poetry and the mathematics used in his works. In this paper, we rephrase Khlebnikov’s ideas and thoughts in mathematical terms. Furthermore, we prove that his method of foretelling the future by analyzing several events which took place in the past produces only random results. Finally, we describe the corresponding mathematical part of the exhibition and provide an artistic exploration of Khlebnikov’s methodology.

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