What happens when you fold a circle, over and over? Amazing discoveries about the truths behind the universe, apparently. Author and sculptor Bradford Hansen-Smith of Wholemovement describes what happens when a circle is folded, allowing us to observe the “information stored in the flattened sphere (circle) which becomes uncompressed by moving the circle plane through all three spatial dimensions.”
You can check out his books: The Geometry of Wholemovement and Folding Circle Tetrahedra.
From an older version of Wholemovement’s FAQ:
WHAT IS WHOLEMOVEMENT?
Wholemovement comes from the word geometry, which means “earth measure”. The earth is spherical; the sphere is the only form that is inherently Whole. Measure is movement from one location to another. Comprehensively the word geometry means Wholemovement. We need to update our vocabulary to better reflect our current experience and understanding since we have traveled from the earth and are now measuring the universe unknown ten years ago. The movement of the Whole is an inclusive, transforming self-referencing system. There are endless parts within divisional movement of the Whole.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHOLE?
The Whole is all we know that is, and all we will never know of what is. One nine year old child said, “It is something you can not add anything to or take anything away from.” The Whole just is, because there can never be a sum to endless generation of parts. When we are thinking parts our focus is shifted away from what is Whole. Geometry is only a part of the inclusive nature of the infinite self-referencing Whole.
WHY IS FOLDING CIRCLES IMPORTANT?
The circle is not the image we draw. The circle is a compression of spherical unity to a flat disc in space. Folding the circle decompresses and replicates 3-D formations and the 2-D distortion of compression formed in the folded creases. The circle is comprehensive to pattern, generating forms and complex systems in space where every part is within the context of all other parts. Everything is always in the context of everything else. The extensive information that is generated through folding the circle can not happen with any other shape or form. Calling the image a circle has prevented us from knowing the nature of the circle and exploring it further.
More mind-bending paper art: