Magnetic Current

Magnetic Current is a short pamphlet by eccentric sculptor and writer Edward Leedskalnin. Detailing his many experiments with magnets, this work posits that it is not metal itself that is magnetic. Rather, tiny individual magnet particles that circulate in and around the metal give it its pull. Edward Leedskalnin was born in Latvia in 1887. While his formal education lasted only until 4th grade, he was intensely curious and spent much of his youth reading. At the age of 26, Leedskalnin was engaged to marry a young woman named Agnes Skuvst. But as she was only 16, she (or her mother) decided that he wasn’t a suitable match and called off the wedding the day before it was set to occur.

Heartbroken, Leedskalnin emigrated to the United States. He spent several years in the Pacific Northwest, where he contracted tuberculosis. After his recovery, he moved to Florida where he hoped the mild climate would be better for his health. In 1923, he purchased an undeveloped acre of land in Florida City, where he began an ambitious project that would absorb the next 28 years.