Alchymia: The Secret Union of Astronomy and Astrology

Exhibitors: Oldřich Th. Uttendorfský Collection / Jiří Matějů / Patrik Šimon Collection / Vladimír Škoda / Jakub Berdych Karpelis

External lectures and debates: Professor RNDr. Jiří Podolský, CSc., DSc.

Public opening: 5. 12. 2024

Duration of the exhibition: December 6, 2024 – March 16, 2025

The activities of Gallery Kvalitář extend, among many other aims, to include projects for the interdisciplinary connection of art and the natural sciences. During the past four years, the gallery has already organized three exhibitions on this theme, under the titles SPACE, Aetas Praehistorica, and Geometria Naturalis. In them, various branches of the fine arts sought links to astronomy, geology, paleontology, and crystallography. Now, to continue with the theme, Kvalitář is presenting its new project ALCHYMIA: The Secret Union of Astronomy and Astrology, turning to the idea of astronomy as an exact science yet in its specific historic context alongside astrology and mysticism. It examines several past eras when these two tendencies were not yet kept in the strict separation of today.

The exhibition’s conception is based on the co-participation of two significant Czech artists – painter Jiří Matějů and sculptor Vladimír Škoda – who have addressed this idea for several decades. Also represented in the exhibition are two noteworthy Czech collectors, Oldřich Th. Uttendorfský and Patrik Šimon, contributing not only authentic artworks dating from the relevant historical periods but also unique natural finds and curiosities, reacting to the symbolism of the esoteric collections of Emperor Rudolf II. Supplementing the works and objects on display is a creative intervention derived from the collaboration between a scientist, Professor Jiří Podolský, and an artist, Jakub Berdych Karpelis, consisting in a strikingly original site-specific installation taking as its theme the first human-generated atomic explosion. This event can be regarded as the first actual transmutation of matter, the longstanding goal of the ancient alchemists.

One specific feature of the present exhibition will be its continually shifting form: through its course, the installations will be repeatedly changed. This aspect is intended as a reference to the complexity of the discipline of alchemy itself, unquestionably a phenomenon hard to grasp. Also in preparation is an extensive program through which Gallery Kvalitář will offer the public special guided tours, lectures, and debates with leading experts.