Cabinet 21: Electricity

Electricity manifests itself in every facet of our lives--from the tiny shock received by touching a doorknob to the explosive power of a lightning strike, from the modest Hoover dustbuster to the industrial grandeur of the Hoover Dam. As a force that has given human beings seemingly unlimited power over nature and refashioned our understanding of day and night, and as a metaphor for the social currents flowing among individuals and communities, electricity has been our invisible yet ubiquitous ally in the creation of a contemporary "technological sublime." Cabinet No. 21 includes an interview with Sharon Beder on electricity and modernity in America; Margaret Wertheim on Lichtenberg figures, frozen lightning captured in acrylic blocks; Michael Sanchez on Francisco Salva's shocking proposal for an eighteenth-century human telegraphy system; an interview with Marcello Pera on how a frog triggered a decisive scientific debate between Enlightenment "electricians" Galvani and Volta; an essay on Benjamin Franklin's promotion of Ebenezer Kinnersley's electrified "magical picture"; and a firsthand account by a survivor of multiple lightning strikes. Also Tom Vanderbilt on Stasi scent samples; an interview with Sam Chwat, the foremost accent elimination coach in the United States; and artist projects by Andrea Geyer and Rachel Watson.