KEY TO THE MANIFESTO
The following seven points outline the most important principles of abchemism. They help explain how abchemias are created, the role of the artist, and the relationship between the material record of transformations and their meaning.
1. The Nature of the Objects
Each abchemia is a material record of the unique course of chemical reactions. Even within the same category, and even when their material records follow similar principles, distinct works emerge. Changes in lighting and viewing distance reveal the microstructure and further details of the surface.
An abchemia reveals itself on two coexisting levels of perception. Dekor encompasses its visual dimension, while the record reveals the material traces of transformation and the meaning arising from the abchemical method.
2. Form Emerges from the Process
The artist deliberately shapes the composition, while its material form is also determined by the course of actual chemical reactions taking place on the surface of metal. The resulting changes in colour, deposits and traces of corrosion, as well as relief structures in certain categories, are the products of transformations of matter.
The character of the record is influenced by the properties of the substrate, the solutions used, environmental conditions and time. In relief-based categories, the artist's own mineral reactive media also contribute to its formation.
3. Breakdown as a Factor in the Emergence of Form
In abchemism, breakdown means the disruption of an existing order, opening a phase of chaos from which a new configuration emerges. This principle finds material expression in abchemia, where actual chemical transformations reorganise the surface of metal, leaving a record of events that have taken place.
4. Materials and Reactive Media
The abchemical method employs chemical solutions, mechanical and thermal interventions and, depending on the category, two mineral reactive media developed by the artist. These are Abchemical Skim Coat (GA) and Abchemical Foam (PA).
GA and PA contribute to the formation of relief. Under the influence of chemical solutions, time and humidity, they help create deposits, cracks, varied structures and the topography of the object.
The principles of the method exclude paints, conventional painting binders, and ready-made construction compounds or mixtures used in place of the artist's own media to build up relief.
Permitted colouring of GA and PA serves to calibrate the field of the material record. It involves introducing dyes or pigments into the structure of the activated media while they are still wet, during the formation of the relief, without creating a separate paint layer.
5. The Artist Does Not Dominate Form. He Establishes Conditions and Makes Decisions at Critical Junctures.
Abchemism shifts the focus of authorship from the continuous modelling of form towards establishing the conditions for transformation and making decisions at critical junctures.
The artist sets out his compositional intention, prepares the field of the material record, initiates chemical reactions and may intervene as the record develops. He then identifies the appropriate moment to stabilise the state the work has reached. Archival protection completes the method, serving to preserve the material integrity of the abchemia over the long term.
The form of the work emerges through the combined contribution of the artist's deliberate actions and transformations of matter that unfold on their own.
6. The Interplay of Will and Chance
The interplay of will and chance is fundamental to abchemism. Will initiates transformation and sets the direction of action, while chance helps shape its consequences. Chance denotes the role of circumstances that extend beyond the original intention, while also pointing to the limits of human foresight and control.
On a conceptual level, this principle concerns human decisions, actions and omissions, whose consequences may extend beyond the moment of choice and take a form different from what was intended.
7. Memory After the Event
Each abchemia is a material record of transformations that have actually taken place and a carrier of their memory. Stabilisation consolidates the state identified by the artist as appropriate, while archival protection serves to preserve the integrity of the object over the long term. Nevertheless, matter may undergo further localised transformations over time, altering how clearly certain traces can be read.
This property is reflected in the reconstructive nature of human memory. A past event remains a fact, while its image and meaning may change. Some traces retain their clarity, others gradually fade, and seemingly insignificant details may acquire new meaning over time.
An abchemia preserves testimony to the past in matter, whose record remains subject to the effects of time.
THE ORIGINS OF ABCHEMISM
Abchemism is an original artistic direction developed by Marcin Ber-Krupka in 2025 and first presented publicly in 2026.
It arose from the artist's reflection on the limits of human agency, defined by the inability to foresee all the consequences of one's own decisions or to exercise full control over them. Equally central to his thinking was the reconstructive nature of memory, in which the image of a past event is subject to change over time.
Seeking a form of artistic expression that could encompass both concerns, Ber-Krupka turned to the properties of metal and the laws of chemistry. He developed his own technique for initiating chemical reactions on the surface of metal, using reactive media of his own formulation in selected works, and stabilising the resulting composition.
The first abchemias were thus created in 2025 as material records of events that had actually taken place and, at the same time, as carriers of memory of those events.
The results, however, depended not only on the artist's intentions but also on factors partly beyond his control. Subsequent observations of the works revealed that, despite the protective treatment applied at the final stage, localised processes could still occur on their surfaces and affect their appearance. In this way, the artist's initial reflections found expression in the very principles governing the creation and continued existence of the work.
Meanwhile, a coherent artistic programme was taking shape, encompassing the creative method, a system of categories based on the material record, and a conceptual vocabulary, ultimately set out in the manifesto. As this programme took shape, abchemism became an original artistic direction rooted in the tradition of abstract art. Within it, an abchemia is created through actual chemical transformations, without the use of paint or conventional painting binders. The artist's role shifts from directly producing an intended form to deliberately initiating and participating in processes through which the work's material record emerges from transformations of matter governed by laws independent of human will.
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CONTACT
mberkrupka@gmail.com