The Curios Society: Alchemy

Williams, Robert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7771-2415 , Briggs, Kate and Topping, Jane ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8148-6684 (2018) The Curios Society: Alchemy. In: The Curios Society - Alchemy, 3 March 2018, Whitechapel Gallery, London, UK. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

A publicly curated event of three talks about Alchemy in the context of collaborations and shared interests with Mark Dion on the occasion of the exhibition 'Mark Dion: Theatre of the Natural World' (held 14 February - 13 May 2018 at the Whitechapel Gallery, London). The event brought together three artists with an interest in alchemy – Robert Williams (University of Cumbria), Kate Briggs (Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam) and Jane Topping (University of Cumbria). Williams introduced the session and presented two talks to discuss the various collaborative projects that he had undertaken with Mark Dion, some of which were in the exhibition (The Tate Thames Dig (1999), Phylogenetic Trees (2005).), and others including Theatrum Mundi: Armarium (2001), An Ordinall of Alchimy (2011) and the OM: Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum (1998-2018) and the role played by Dion and Williams’ shared interests and enquiry into alchemy, hermetic philosophy and the construction of cosmologies. Williams’ talk also identified and located these tropes within the collaborations and contextualised elements of the work which link to ideas of alchemy. Jane Topping presented at talk entitled Eggs and Aliens which explored alchemical themes in science fiction contexts and with reference to her video works Peter (2014) and Nou (2018); and Kate Briggs discusses the application of ideas of transmutation to her book This Little Art (2017), and the translation of two volumes of lecture and seminar notes by Roland Barthes (Columbia University Press, 2011 and 2013). Event organised by Jane Scarth of the Whitechapel Gallery.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Lecture)
Related URL(s):	Other
Departments:	Academic Departments > Institute of Arts (IOA) > Fine Arts
Additional Information:	The recording of both the visual and audio of this public event is available
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	19 Nov 2018 10:44
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2024 19:30
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/4198

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