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Oct 29, 2021
Art or alchemy? Or both?
The works on show as part of the VÄXT exhibition in Lund are evidently inanimate works of art. As such they may come as a disappointment...


Oct 17, 2021
It may not be alchemy but…
... it feels like it might be. The exhibition by Danish artist Marie Louise Kold that opened at the Jäger & Jansson Galleri in Lund on...


Oct 14, 2021
Alchemy or Art?
It would appear that the the 'Book of Secrets' and the "Book of Life" are recent creations, not the product of 19th Century alchemists....


Oct 7, 2021
‘Book of Life’
This is a copper book that has been referred to as ‘The Book of Life’. It appears to be made from thin copper sheets bound into a book....
Oct 2, 2021
Gråbrödraklostret in Lund
During the high middle ages the Gråbröder district was at the centre of the city of Lund. Evidence of its rich and eventful past lies...

Sep 28, 2021
Hitherto unknown lifeforms
If one were able to bring an inanimate, inorganic, material to life, what lifeforms would it be capable of generating. This question is...

Sep 25, 2021
Betwixt organic and inorganic life
Some amazing work from the University of Glasgow, showing how some of the characteristics of living cells can be realised in purely...


Aug 27, 2021
The book of secrets
This book is made from copper. It is currently in a private collection in Sweden and is presumed to have originated in Sweden. Methods...


Jul 13, 2021
Stephanos of Alexandria on the soul and spirit of copper
“And being burnt to ashes they make many and divine works and various colours [...] leading the nature back outside to the visible. On...

Nov 22, 2020
Mercury: a metal that's almost animate
QUI SCIT COMBURERE AQUA ET LAVARE IGNE FACIT DE TERRA CAELUM ET DE CAELO TERRAM PRETIOSAM He who knows how to burn with water and wash...

Mar 26, 2019
The Grey Brothers and Lund
In mediaeval times Franciscan monks , also known as Greyfriars, or Grey Brothers, were closely associated with alchemical studies. In the...

Feb 16, 2017
The inanimate-animate transition in organic matter
It seems that most of the work over the past century that seeks to infuse the life force into inanimate systems comes under the general...
Jul 12, 2016
Animal Vegetal Mineral
This conference "Animal, Vegetal, Mineral" looks like it might be interesting. Is anyone able to go or to get hold of the presentations?...
Sep 22, 2012
Making the inanimate live
The gulf between the animate and the inanimate is deep and assumed to be unbridgeable. It seems obvious that no amount of effort, no...
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