Separation Anxiety: Not the Truth About Alchemy

1997
Norie Neumark
Separation Anxiety: Not the Truth About Alchemy is an alchemical aural text, a journey through stages of transformation. Historically, alchemy was a way of knowing through a mind/body/and spirit that were not split. The alchemist was understood as a performer who performed his way of knowing in a theater of physiological, psychological, philosophical and spiritual dimensions. Separation is one of the stages or gates of alchemy. Anxiety, a moment when truths are no longer so comfortable or comforting... Separation anxiety is the a moment in which truth, regularity, and categories give way, allowing things to manifest themselves in their singularity. It is a moment more fruitful than chaos. A moment to be experienced. With participating artists and alchemists, Neumark creates this theater, opening the gate to a new way of knowing and doing.