Mandlebrot Plant

My entry for the Cambridge University Maths Art competition 2025.

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The Mandelbrot set is one of the most famous images in maths. A shape that can contain infinite complexity yet be created from a simple algorithm seems to defy logic. The aim of this art piece was to highlight the similarities between this shape and organic forms.
Just below the surface of the gravel, buried like a seed, lies the Mandelbrot set placed horizontally just 5 mm across. As we travel up the sculpture it grows in size, zooming in, doubling every 2 cm, constantly revealing new details, always self-similar just like in nature. The full set would be as wide as the Earth by the time we reach the top and so we cut away all but a cylinder centred on an arbitrary point near the Mandelbrot’s boundary.