In 1954 a certain doctor – a psychiatrist – wrote in an article for The American Journal of Medical Science:

In further experiments using an EEG device, high activity of the aforementioned areas was observed in experiences proper only to the human species, such as meditation, feeling happiness and compassion. Samples taken in vivo from a specific site (Brodmann’s Area 24 and 32) with a microcannula turned out to contain a considerable amount of an unknown and previously unobserved substance (A).

That same year the author was arrested and, at the instigation of the Food and Drug Administration, sentenced to 2 years in prison. He died 3 days after his release, having served most of his sentence.

What was the unknown organic compound responsible for the most important functions of the human brain? For lack of sufficient sources, the working methods and their full results have not been reconstructed. Animaton is a reconstruction of this unfinished story.

Anna Koźbiel

A graduate of the Faculty of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw; a graphic artist, maker of murals and animations. In 2011–2021 she formed the collective Ad manum, and later Xolor, with Adam Walas.

"Animaton" is a doctoral project.