Registratie van electriciteitsgolven opgewekt door een vonkinductor before 1870

This intriguing image was made by Willem Cornelis van Dijk. It's titled "Registratie van electriciteitsgolven opgewekt door een vonkinductor", which translates to "Registration of electrical waves generated by a spark inductor". It's essentially a photograph that captures electrical activity. The process is key here: Van Dijk used photography, a relatively new technology at the time, to make visible something normally invisible. He used a spark inductor to generate electrical waves, and then captured the discharge onto photographic paper, resulting in the striking triangular form. What I find fascinating is how this work collapses distinctions. Is it art? Is it science? It really exists in both worlds. It is significant that a technique of documentation is presented as an artwork. The form, dictated by the behavior of electricity itself, reminds us that even in technological advancements, the inherent qualities of materials and processes shape our perception and understanding.