This publication starts with the basic idea of the dichotomy of opposites for the generation of matrices, in order to offer a new world or a new way to observe the world, between seeing and being, where knowledge and thought dwell. This publication aims to provide an adjacent view of the world of contemporary graphics, and thus show the possibilities of scenarios that are complementary to the traditional graphics landscape. From this structural position, one then dives into the magical complexity of opposites and beyond into the chemistry of substances that transform matter and landscapes, in short: life. Since electricity is the protagonist of our history, we wanted to investigate the role it has played in our field. The chemistry that modifies the micro and macro universe is based on principles and reactions where electrons travel between elements to transform substances, thus creating that wonderful loop of repetition and transformation, where new universes appear right in front of our eyes to, in real time, modify the map that we step on, see or inhabit.

Structure and objectives

“Anode-Cathode, The Chemical Memory Sculpted by Electrons” is structured into three distinct well differentiated parts, which coincide with the programmatic approaches of the dx5 group and the way in which research projects developed by this team are almost always addressed. These three approaches –theoretical-conceptual, scientific-technical, and artistic-practical– are reflected in the three major sections that articulate this book. In the first part, different thinkers and experts were invited to develop and research the application of electrolysis and galvanography procedures to current day graphics.
Our foremost and primary objective was to study its theoretical and conceptual implications by analysing the empirical finding that everything is chemical, everything is built thanks to the basic principles of electricity. Attraction and repulsion of opposite poles; negative and positive existing together to activate the creation of new matter.
The second large section of this book corresponds to an unpublished macro view of graphic matrices that are traditional or made using electrolysis or galvanographic procedures. Almost 100 samples of the 22 graphic techniques in the book have been analysed, together with a selection of more than 1900 images taken under the microscope, to provide that other more scientific perspective of an already known reality. We invite readers to a journey into the different matrices through comparative microanalysis so that, with an in-depth knowledge, they perceive a new experience between seeing and being. In the third part, the reader is offered a small selection of artists and images that graphically expand the theoretical-conceptual discourse that serves as the main theme to this editorial proposal. Evocative works that, at times, plastically respond to issues raised throughout this project, while at other times, help to raise new issues that need reflecting upon.
This infinite reflection encourages the creator and the researcher to continue to raise doubts in a world seemingly full of dogmas, revealed to us as an index of the contemporary complexity in which the human being of the 21st century is immersed.