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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 29, 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 17, 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 14, 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 8, 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...
Oct 2, 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 28, 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...
Sep 25, 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...
Aug 27, 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...
Jul 14, 2021


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...
Nov 22, 2020


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...
Mar 26, 2019


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...
Feb 16, 2017
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?...
Jul 12, 2016
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...
Sep 22, 2012
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