CORRIDOR III: VALDEMAR DAA
Around 1660, the Danish alchemist Valdemar Daa - while depleting his family fortune in its pursuit - was convinced that he found the philosopher’s stone. Shortly after, so the story goes, the glass containing the precious liquid ruptured and smashed. He was never able to prove his discovery. The philosopher’s stone is one of the most sought-after treasures in the world of alchemy. Over hundreds of years, alchemists from the Arabic countries through to East Asia and Europe have tried to create the magical mixture said to prolong life and transform impure material into pure.
'Corridor 3: Valdemar Daa' begins with a historic moment related to the legend around Valdemar Daa, whose body lies in a coffin at the Viborg Cathedral and whose story inspired the Hans Christian Andersen tale 'The Story of the Wind' (1859). The exhibition invites visitors to enter into a mindset where different kinds of mystical knowledge and beliefs pervaded over today’s version of science. They are taken on a journey through the mysteries of alchemy, the human faith in the potential for natural materials to hold treasures of incredible power, and one person’s obsessive search for the seemingly impossible.
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24 Jun – 03 Sep 2017
Viborg Kunsthal
ARTISTS
Jenny Brockmann, Irina Birger, A/A Andreas Greiner & Keplinger, Kitty Kraus, Alicja Kwade, Helene Hellmich, huber.huber, Julian Rosefeldt, Elsa Salonen, Nika Fontaine, Scene Everything, Troika, Virginie Yassef
CURATORS
insitu collective (Marie Graftieaux, Nora Mayr, Gilles Neiens, Lauren Reid)
For information and credits, click on the images.
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