As last semester drew to a close, the School of Physics at Trinity College Dublin played host to a vibrant intersection of physics and art with ‘Packing Problems’, an exhibition of works by students of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA). The event marked the launch of “Packing Problems in Soft Matter Physics: Fundamentals and Applications”, a new book co-edited by Professors Stefan Hutzler and Denis Weaire of the TCD School of Physics.
The event, held in the Fitzgerald Library, brought together physicists, artists, students, and the wider public to promote a dialogue across disciplines about how things occupy space, how they are constrained, and how scientists and artists alike interpret the structures that arise.
Packing problems are central to soft matter physics, but are also encountered in maths, chemistry, biology, engineering, and architecture. The field is concerned with optimal arrangements of objects in space, from foams and emulsions to biological tissues and granular media. This event celebrated the publication of “Packing Problems in Soft Matter Physics” part of a series by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The book, co-edited by Ho-Kei Chan, Stefan Hutzler, Adil Mughal, Corey S. O’Hern, Yujie Wang, and Denis Weaire, explores models of ordered and disordered packings, the mechanical behaviour of packing, and applications in soft matter and biology.
Two of the editors, Stefan Hutzler and Denis Weaire, are central figures in soft matter research in Trinity, shaping the field through their own work while building on the department’s internationally recognised legacy.
The exhibition invited attendees to encounter the physics of packing through an artistic lens, presenting works by RHA students responding to the idea of “packing problems”. The diversity of artistic solutions was apparent, with some works approaching packing through human experience, with one piece depicting refugees tightly packed into a car. Another explored how natural forms solve packing challenges with a hand stitched piece showing lichen across a rock.
These interpretations stretched the concept far beyond geometric efficiency, reminding viewers that “packing” is not only a scientific problem, but a social, emotional, and ecological one. By pairing student artworks with the scientific launch, organisers created a dialogue between material behaviour and human interpretation. The result was an atmosphere where equations and canvases felt equally at home.
During the opening remarks, the RHA School Principal Colin Martin and Professor Hutzler discussed the history of questions of packing. Hutzler cast the audiences’ minds to everyday examples, packing a suitcase, the stacking of apples and grains, and the implications of how various shapes and materials order themselves. He described his collaboration with Colin and the RHA as his ”way of thinking outside the box, even with a book and exhibition topic which is all about stuffing things into the box.
Martin highlighted that packing has long been a theme in art history, referencing traditional still life compositions such as a bowl of fruit, where painters meticulously rendered clustered forms and the spaces between them. These can be interpreted as studies in natural packing efficiency as artists intuitively explored the same questions that later became formalised in physics: how do objects arrange themselves? Why do some patterns emerge repeatedly? Where does order break down?
The setting itself added another layer of significance as the exhibition and launch were held in the Fitzgerald Library, a room lined with old physics equipment that many would consider art pieces in themselves. A Yeats’ painting of George Francis Fitzgerald hangs here, blending the intellectual and aesthetic. The School of Physics has long embraced this intersection, with sculptures and art installations depicting the art of physics embedded throughout the SNIAM and Fitzgerald buildings. This highlights the open mindset of the department: that it welcomes artistic creativity not as a distraction from scientific work but as another way of seeing it
“Packing Problems” succeeded in transforming a scientific book launch into a wider cultural event, demonstrating the power of collaboration across disciplines. Artistic expressions and scientific achievement were celebrated in equal measure, perfectly packed together and tied with a bow.
