By Lieneke Hulshof

An air of mystery surrounds alchemy. Alchemists were convinced that people who weren’t ready for the knowledge and wisdom brought by alchemy should not have access to it. This is why they designed complicated secret languages and symbols that not only concealed but also exalted early chemistry. Juliaan Andeweg is described as a contemporary alchemist. He experiments with and breaks down materials, which results in chemical reactions with glittering substances and fluids. Andeweg also leaves onlookers in the dark, due to the multitude of images that materialise in a symbolic secret language. You feel as though you are in a laboratory from which the scientist has just disappeared. As though you were witnessing an enormous discovery that you can’t quite understand.