work in progress:
All is dew
The alchemical writings of Arthur Dee, collected in Chymical Collections, speak of dew as a vital agent of transformation: “The Earth therefore doth not germinate without the watering and humidity of May dew, the doth wash, penetrate, and whiten Bodies, like rain Water, and of two Bodies make a new one.” In Western alchemical traditions, dew was considered the key to the Philosopher’s Stone—the ultimate agent of transmutation, capable of converting base metals into gold and promising an elixir of life. Among the plants associated with this practice, Alchemilla—known in Dutch as Vrouwenmantel—holds a special position, its name rooted in these early proto-scientific beliefs.
Alchemy, as a pre-modern epistemology, combined speculative material practice with a desire for perfection and transformation. Its methods relied not solely on observation but on a reciprocal relationship between the alchemist and the material world, a notion that contrasts sharply with contemporary conceptions of objectivity in science.
My artistic research originates in this historical and epistemological tension. It poses the speculative question:
Can contemporary Western science and technology confirm—or challenge—the alchemical claim that dew collected from Alchemilla contains transformative properties capable of bringing wealth and health?
Engaging with this question requires more than empirical testing; it calls for a re-examination of our relationship with matter and the modes of knowledge production we privilege today. In this light, my project explores the entanglement between myself as researcher and the plant as an active agent. By tracing a dialogue between historical alchemical texts, contemporary scientific inquiry, and embodied artistic gestures, the research seeks to uncover how such practices might generate alternative epistemologies and imaginaries.