Academic blog

 Bure dedicated one of his treatises to Queen Christina of Sweden. She was also fond of alchemy and other occult sciences: with the help of the philosopher's stone, the queen even allegedly planned to “transmute” her gender in order to become a man.  Another powerful Swedish courtier, Privy Councilor Gustaf Bonde (1655-1712), followed the mystical teachings of the Swedish mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), who believed that he saw the world of spirits, and the German alchemist Konrad Dippel (1673-1734), who tried to create artificial life ... Bond also actively practiced alchemy.  In one of the treatises, he described the alchemist's body as a furnace, and the gastrointestinal tract was understood by him as a "secret fire." By passing small pieces of gold through the digestive system, the experimenter , in his opinion, could create an alchemical elixir inside his body for many years. Bond claimed that he almost achieved what he wanted twice, but each time the p

 England: alchemical spy  Perhaps the most famous court alchemist can be called the English lover of secret sciences John Dee (1527-1609), who was in the service of Queen Elizabeth - according to some versions, he was even her spy on the continent.  Dee studied astrology and magic much more diligently than alchemy, as evidenced by artifacts that have come down to us, for example, his wax disk used for magical incantations (see Figure 3), as well as a quartz ball for divination and a witch's mirror.  <…>  Already at the age of 55, Dee met Edward Kelly (1555-1597), a magician and alchemist, who became his assistant: with him he tried to communicate with angels, and then went on a trip to Europe. There Dee and Kelly visited the main alchemical centers - Krakow and Prague.  In the latter lived the famous patron of alchemy, Emperor Rudolph II, who gathered at his court a lot of talented goldsmiths, magicians and astrologers. Dee went back to England, but his companion Edward

 Feed the army , change sex and gain immortality: why the aristocrats of the past were engaged in alchemy  The AST publishing house has published a book by the cultural anthropologist and author of The Knife, Sergei Zotov, The History of Alchemy. The Journey of the Philosopher's Stone from the Bronze Age to the Atomic Age ”- a summary of the history of the Hermetic sciences. The Knife publishes a fragment about why gold-making from an art available to individuals has become a popular area of ​​knowledge, why Swedish alchemists needed the blood of boys and how stones in coffins were turned into gold.  In the XVI-XVIII centuries. in the territory from Lisbon to St. Petersburg, many alchemical centers arise. Kings and dukes, princes and ladies of the court, popes, bishops and priests have been unprecedentedly actively sponsoring laboratories or even trying to get the coveted elixir themselves.  By investing a lot of money in experiments, they hoped to get a lucrative income and get

 My acquaintance with the EBM genre began with an interest in such bands as Skinny Puppy, Hocico, Suicide Commando . It was their early works that caught on with a dirty and raw sound, from which they both nevertheless moved away, but nevertheless retained something in themselves, despite the rather great fame that came to them over time.  Once, in search of some performers of a similar orientation, I came across several very interesting VKontakte communities (it should be noted: the joy of this social network is that it provides access to a large collection of various music , which would be difficult to find outside of it, and for me it's like a breath of fresh air in our world of prohibitions and restrictions).  The first community is led, as I understand it, by the Frenchman Eric Braun, somehow connected with this kind of music, and he has good taste! This community is dedicated , as the annotation in the band's header says, to the curious who wish to discover dark, disturbi

For example, I assembled a rifle back in 2015-2016, a helmet and a gas mask - also before starting work on the film. In general, each of the members of our film crew did something with their own hands for the film and the hut, this also applies to the costume of the protagonist: for example, we made boots separately (but jointly) with our operator, having agreed about their length. He did one, and I did the second. The hut itself is located near the Strelna station and is open to visitors, you just need to write to one of us about our intention to visit it, and we will let you know where the key to it is hidden.  - Explain a little to the readers about low quality and folk topics. Have you traveled to Vologda to look at lace and wooden architecture or to Ustyug to see blackening on silver?  - I have long liked the image obtained with the help of any imperfect devices: cameras of the late mid-1990s or phones of the early 2000s. Such pictures seem to allow you to see something between

 I also have several works that represent a semblance of letters of thought, sometimes addressed to someone who no longer exists or who will never be found, but longing and sadness for them make the words pour out on paper, and sometimes it’s like running between burning trees and wild pursuit of that , about whom it is impossible to speak.  - About misanthropic walks and foundation art: you have been collecting the remains of history near the shores of reservoirs and ruined buildings for a long time - tell us about the most interesting finds (I would especially like to know about the sword).  - Hmm, a difficult question, during all these walks a lot of interesting objects were found, but if you highlight something, then for me it is a copper plate in the shape of a circle, about 1 mm thick, a silver pepper shaker of 1874, a porcelain figurine depicting a soldier and a sailor who are following a trail (however, the glaze is already so worn out that it is difficult to understand who

 Song of the Lost Soldier: Interview with Artist and Collector Grecht, who paints with soot, buries swords in the ground, and writes letters to nowhere  Why are digital soap boxes a modern antiquity and how do they help to look into a world that has no name yet? What can you find during misanthropic walks along the shores of reservoirs and then turn into art? Why fasten cans to gas masks and write letters to anyone nowhere? This time the special correspondent of "Knife" Pavel Korkin talked with the artist and collector Grekht - about the wind biting the cheeks, about the rusty tumbler, about the weather vane of the future and much more.  Pavel Korkin: Hi. Tell us who grehtsteinmann is and how it all started. How and where did you spend your childhood? Where did the military aesthetics and the song of the lost soldier, extracted sadness, sadness and hopelessness come from?  Grecht: Hi. I got acquainted with the computer quite early and gradually began to get involved in dif

 However, more often the basis was still the figure of an angel (in the usual sense of the word for us), to which the other three heads joined. Sometimes , in an effort to emphasize the special nature of the tetramorph and, possibly, downplay its monstrousness, the masters tried to disguise the three animal mouths, drawing them, for example, as part of the cherub's hairstyle.  However, not all tetramorphs are constructed on the basis of the human figure. There are many images where they appear in animal guise - as bull-like beasts with four different heads, wings and arms growing directly from the body, or as a winged hybrid with four legs and four heads, which rather resembles not a living creature, but an object of temple utensils.  Since the 12th century, such Divine monsters have sometimes been opposed to devilish ones, for example, the beast with seven heads and ten horns, which in the Revelation of John the Theologian serves as a throne for the Babylonian harlot. This is ho

 In addition, in the Roman pre-Christian tradition , there were suitable iconographic prototypes, for example, the image of the winged goddess of victory Nike, dressed in ashes. She regularly appeared on the reverse of gold coins between portraits of Roman or early Byzantine co-throne emperors with crowns and halos - for example, between Valens and Valentinian I. These images served as the basis for the first Christian images of saints, and then the Trinity.  For example, on one gold bottom, Christ crowns the apostles Peter and Paul. This scene is exactly copied from the coin, where the goddess Nika takes the place of the Savior. With Roman money, the image of the royal trinity with a central winged character, in turn, could have come from ancient Egyptian art, where in the same manner as early as the 2nd century BC. e. on stone gems Bait (one of the incarnations of Horus), Hathor (the patroness of motherhood) and Akori (the goddess of power of the pharaoh) were depicted.  Gradually,

 Beard, bald head and wheel with eyes: how the image of angels changed from Antiquity to the present day  Until the 4th century , angels were depicted as bearded or bald men, and it never occurred to anyone to draw them with wings - but then the heavenly messengers suddenly became winged and in halos. In the Middle Ages, angels were sometimes presented as creatures in the form of wheels, consisting of only wings and eyes, and sometimes cherubs grew four animal heads. Historian Sergei Zotov, author of the book "History of Alchemy" and co-author of the bestseller "The Suffering Middle Ages", tells about the evolution of the iconography of angels from Antiquity to the present.  The modern image of an angel in the mass consciousness is a young man in a white tunic and a thin golden halo with huge bird wings. However, artists did not immediately begin to draw the heavenly messengers just like that. Although they are mentioned 273 times in the Bible, all descriptions of

 The first half of the 20th century: the color of the French savages  The beginning of the 20th century is a time of great discoveries. Artists suddenly turn their attention to colonial art, reinterpret children's drawing, and actively experiment with color and shape.  The Impressionists spoke of separate brushstroke and painting in pure color. Now artists of the next generation are pushing these same attitudes to the limit. The master conveys a shade with a blue tint with pure turquoise, and a slight blush on the girl's cheeks with a crimson spot.  A whole movement of painters appeared , interested only in coloristic tasks. For their love of bright colors they were called Fauves (from the French fauves - "savages").  Henri Matisse, the main ideologist of Fauvism, believed that the main thing in a painting is the harmony of color. He built all his compositions on the ratio of contrasting colors, which gave a major tone to his static subjects.  He originally painted

 XVIII century: red is a secular compliment  After the stormy baroque passions, the artists wanted peace and harmony. The scenes of big celebrations were replaced by an intimate atmosphere , and at this time the portrait genre was gaining popularity. Wide windows and large doors appear on the canvases, which means that it becomes much easier to see the color. Light shades and gentle pastel colors are now in fashion. But in England and Russia, red remains popular with the most advanced artists.  Joshua Reynolds, the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, was an incredibly sought-after portrait painter. He could accurately convey the main features of his models and at the same time flatter them accurately. It is not surprising that among his customers were the most prominent people of their time: members of the royal family, society ladies, politicians, artists and writers. Almost every portrait has an expressive spot of red.  Joshua Reynolds "Self-portrait" (

 Red in painting : from sexuality to power  In secular images, red is no less important than in icons. Often, the artist uses red to make a dramatic accent, to draw the viewer's attention to a specific detail in a landscape or character's clothing.  XV century: new possibilities of red  In the Renaissance, religious images are gradually replaced by secular ones, and the place of pious Madonnas is taken by naked Venuses.  The technique of painting is also evolving : artists are moving from tempera to oil paints. The fact is that tempera was made from a mixture of powdered pigments and egg yolk, so the paint dried instantly. The artist had to apply color very quickly and could not allow mistakes in the drawing: it was almost impossible to correct something later.  Oil paints are another matter: they can be applied in a thin layer, superimposed one color on top of another, and thus achieve a depth of color never seen before. Oil painting can be easily corrected, wiped off with s

Passion of Christ , female sexuality, blood of war and a symbol of power. What did red mean in the art of different eras  The first color in human history to be named was red. The Knife tells what this color has symbolized at different times - from rock paintings to contemporary art objects - and which artists have endowed it with new meanings.  Origin of red  The first dyes were exactly red. In some languages, for example in Russian, both "paint" and "red" come from the same word - "beauty".  The fabric, which was specially dyed, made its wearer stand out among people. Changing the natural color of the canvas to bright red was not only difficult, but also very expensive. To get 1 gram of dye, it was necessary to catch, boil and crush tens of thousands of mollusks, and about 200 grams of one ancient Roman toga (about 6 meters of fabric) took! It is logical that in ancient drawings this color was often associated with power and sacred rites, and only rul

  "It must be expensive to cut a tree." How to grow a forest in a city, what reforms are needed in the structures responsible for landscaping, and how caring citizens can help here American scientists prove that trees have a beneficial effect on the psychological state of a person. If trees and bushes are planted in a vacant lot or an abandoned lot, there is less chance of crimes being committed there. Trees provide shade, improve air, purify water with roots and control noise. And what does the person answer them? Together with the coordinator of the Trees of Petersburg movement, Maria Tinika, we figured out how plants survive in cities, why it is important to keep an eye on them and how to plant a tree on our own. - Why do people need trees? - First, they are important for relaxation. For example, the Champs Elysees, one of the first boulevards in Paris, was originally a promenade for the nobility. Second, they provide concrete benefits. In the 1920s – 1930s, t