THE ALCHEMICAL EGG

Designers: Aurélie Guillaume - Gigi Mariani - Tore Svensson - Wendy McAllister

Date: 10 Febbraio - 24 Marzo 2018

THE ALCHEMICAL EGG - Visions et révélations d'une Enigme

Coming across the alchemical egg is gliding into the Arcana Artis, following the egg is diving into the Great Opus.

The study of Ars Magna, practiced throughout Europe, Egypt and Asia, arrived in Western Europe by the translation of an Arabian manuscript and, from that moment, as an underground river, the interest for this philosophical knowledge and practice never faded.
A search of knowledge, a millennial tradition, a proto-science, a discovery of the self; a quest of immortality through the creation and discovery of the Philosophical stone and the transmutation of the matter; an embryonic stage of chemistry: a discipline considered so obscure to be practiced in secret; a sort of witchcraft and one of the key for the recognition of the self, according to Jung: these are only few of the aspects related to Alchemy.

Chēmeía, this was the ancient Greek term for “alloying”, was allegedly considered as the practice for the transmutation of metals in gold, but the final aim was reaching knowledge, gnosis, in complete harmonious union with Nature. The study of Alchemy, through its three stages of knowledge and the concoction of elements, transmuted the matter using fire as the main media of transition: we focused on these passages to enlighten the works of the four contemporary jewellers called to showcase their own quest of the philosopher's stone.

By following the three stages of nigredo, albedo and rubedo, we wanted to set in our contemporaneity the alchemical cognitive path through the use of fire, metals and enamels in order to see how the Artists' intervention changes the status of the matter by concocting, dissolving, separating, distilling, purifying, fixing. This interpolation, made by the Artists-Alchemists, tends in one hand to pulverize Time, but, on the other hand, to fix it in a tangible piece.

How does humankind (and Artists in particular) gain a growing intervention in matter? And this intervention on the inner nature of the matter made by the Artist/Alchemist could be contemplated as an intervention on temporality? Does the Alchemist (and the Artist in our case) want to replace Time? And this concept of pulverization of Time is not an anticipation of what is the essential ideology of the modern world? Do we have Homo Faber first or the Alchemist?

Exhibition of contemporary jewellery February 10 - March 24, 2018.
Opening reception February 10, 5-7 pm.

Tuesday-Thursday 2-7 pm.
Saturday 11 am - 1 pm and 2 - 7 pm.