Registratie van elektriciteitsgolven opgewekt door een vonkinductor before 1870

Willem Cornelis van Dijk created this “Registratie van elektriciteitsgolven opgewekt door een vonkinductor” using paper. The diptych shows a stark contrast in the visual language on its two pages. One page features a largely blank canvas, quietly marked by subtle grids and faint stains. These imperfections are quietly formal and allow the composition and structural elements to shine through. Opposite, a rectangular insert shows an intricate registration of electrical waves. The paper presents a neat series of zigzags. The starkness of the minimalist composition on the left heightens the complex image of the electrical activity on the right. The structural form of the book itself, with its facing pages, invites us to consider a play between absence and presence, and chaos and order. This formal interplay invites contemplation about science, representation, and perception.