The sculptural chandelier visualizes our bodies’ electric fields.
Some of the greatest discoveries are happy accidents. Such was the case in 1939 when Russian inventor Semyon Davidovich Kirlian realized that he could visualize electrical fields around objects–normally invisible to the naked eye–by hitching a high-voltage energy source to photographic plate. Kirlian’s work resonated with alternative medicine practitioners, who used his techniques to create photographs of individuals’ “auras.” A new genre of mystical photography was born, and it remains popular today.