Never Seen Never Will

When reflecting on this assignment and trying to find an object that I could not see, I connected this to something that I knew existed but understood the workings behind it (to an extent). This semester, I have been taking Organic Chemistry where we learn a lot about electrons and how the electrons move during the various mechanisms that can happen. These mechanisms have physical components that you can see such as the chemicals you would mix in a lab to achieve your preferred mechanism, however the electrons are forever invisible. I also have a friend who I joke a lot about electrons with (because we are both nerds and that’s our humor) so I was heavily inspired from our interactions.

A basic overview of what an electron is can be described as a negatively charged subatomic particle that carries electricity. In organic chemistry two main fundamental concepts one must know are the terms “nucleophile” and “electrophile”. The nucleophile is an electron rich atom that attacks the electrophile which contains a leaving group. After this attack the leaving group does what it sounds like it would do, and leaves, and the electrophile now is attached to the nucleophile. In order to remediate this object, I thought about many things that I could do in order to achieve a way to represent electrons and what I know of them. I knew I did not want to be too literal in my remediation and create this reaction on a piece of paper. To successfully remediate electrons and these mechanisms in general, I decided to pull ideas from Bolter and Gusin in which they explain what remediation is when referencing electronic remediations: “In these cases, the electronic version is offered as an improvement, although the new is still justified in terms of the old and seeks to remain faithful to the older medium's character”(46). This perspective on how I would create a tangible understanding for what electrons are and how we “visualize” them in real life. I did not remediate through a digital medium however the form I will share my remediation is a picture.

Even though my remediation does not fully identify with what we consider to be an electronic remediation, it is faithful to the fundamental concepts presented in organic chemistry and in this way constitutes as a remediation. I took my model kit and represented the electrons on my wall to symbolize the electrons that are all around us and I used a molecule that I made to symbolize the movements of the electrons around us. In this way something we all know about but cannot see is able to be represented in a physical form. The placement of my picture also showing part of my room was intentional on my part for this remediation because it grounds the piece in the real world. This then makes the electrons a part of the room and more noticeable as being there. Scientifically, we all know that electrons are all around us, so I thought the best way to show that they were around us was by showing how they litter my walls.