The Exploratorium Celebrates 34th Annual Pi Day Online

Performance by math artist John Sims, live online presentations honor the museum’s own holiday

SAN FRANCISCO (March 1, 2021)—On Sunday, March 14 (3.14), 2021, the Exploratorium will offer a free, online event to celebrate Pi Day—an annual holiday invented by the nonprofit museum to honor the mathematical constant and neverending number (and Albert Einstein’s birthday). Pi Day first began at the non-profit institution in 1988 and has become an internationally-celebrated event for math enthusiasts, educators, and curious people globally. 

Starting at 1:15 p.m. PDT on Pi Day, the Exploratorium will celebrate this irrational number with a performative listening party with math artist John Sims. The event will feature work from his music project 31415: The Pi Collection, including Pi Day Anthem, a spoken word Dear Pi letter, and the world premiere of a new Jazz Pi composition. 

Following the listening party, John will join a live online “round” table of Exploratorium staff educators Lori Lambertson, Ron Hispchman, and Paul Dancstep. They will delve into Pi-related questions including why we celebrate Pi, how Pi has been calculated from the time of Archimedes to the psychedelic formulas of Ramanujan to modern computer algorithms, and how some brilliant women use Pi in their work, from calculating rocket orbits to popularizing Pi through social media.

“Although our museum doors remain closed for now, we invite everyone to join us in celebrating Pi Day, wherever they may be,” said Chris Flink, the Exploratorium’s CEO and Sakurako and William Fisher Executive Director. “The past year has shown us how important it is to engage with topics of science and math, and the Exploratorium strives to make learning engaging and fun. Pi Day reminds us to stop, notice, and celebrate the phenomena all around us.”

All Pi Day events are free on the Exploratorium’s Facebook page and on YouTube, and a variety of Pi materials, resources, and activities are available for free on the museum's website.

CALENDAR EDITORS, PLEASE NOTE:

Pi (π) Day Online

Listening Party with math artist John Sims and “Round” Table of Pi Presentations

Sunday, March 14, 2021 • 1:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. 

Free online event—join via Facebook or YouTube

No matter how you slice it, you won’t want to miss Pi Day—we’ll be celebrating online this year, but you can still join the party for this irrational and transcendent figure. Math artist John Sims will host a live listening session featuring work from his music project 31415: The Pi Collection. This performance will present his work: Pi Day Anthem video, a spoken word Dear Pi letter, and the world premiere of a new Jazz Pi composition. Then join our panel of pi enthusiasts dishing out bites of pi trivia and pi art (along with a side of puns and pi-kus.) Ask your questions and share your pi stories in the live chat.

Math artist John Sims; an image of "Seeing Pi," a quilt made by Sims as part of his project, SquareRoots: A Quilted Manifesto

About John Sims

John Sims is a Detroit native, Sarasota-based conceptual artist, writer, and activist. He creates art and curatorial projects spanning the areas of installation, performance, text, music, film, and large-scale activism, informed by mathematics, design, the politics of white supremacy, sacred symbols/anniversaries, and poetic/political text. His signature 16-year project, SquareRoots: A Quilted Manifesto, is a call to unify and collaborate mathematics and art, craft and fine arts, visual with text—through a collection of 13 mathematical art Pi quilts created in collaboration with Amish quilters, dresses, drawings, and the Pi Day Anthem. Currently, he is an Artist in Residency at the Ringling Museum, where he developed the performance piece 2020: (Di)Visions of America, which is a part of a two-decade national art-activism project, Recoloration Proclamation.