Marcus-Gunnar Pettersson
The year is 1912. The bookseller Wilfred M. Voynich, who has dedicated his life to the search for rare literature, is in one of the many mansions belonging to the Society of Jesus – Villa Mondragone in western Italy, outside of Rome. Before him in a coffin packed with ancient, dusty volumes is a very strange manuscript which, to this date, has cryptologists scratching their heads. It has been written using an unknown alphabet in what appears to be an unknown language.
The only things that can be properly interpreted in what has come to be known as the Voynich Manuscript are the sloppy, but expressive, illustrations that decorate almost every page. Illustrations of strange plants, cosmological maps of unknown firmaments, marching naked women bathing in green pools, piping systems and what are believed to be some types of alchemist recipes.
In my degree project, I have chosen to provide space for the clues in this mystery and I have placed my interpretation of the illustrations in a three-dimensional environment, in the form of a board game. The elements have become the pieces, the playing board and the strategies: elements that construct a game of achieving eternal life.
Det enda tolkningsbara i vad som har kommit att kallas Voynichs Manuskript är de slarviga men uttrycksfulla illustrationer som pryder i stort sett varje sida. Illustrationer av märkliga växter, kosmologiska kartor över okända stjärnhimlar, marscherande nakenbaderskor i gröna bassänger, rörsystem och vad man tror kan vara någon form av alkemiska recept.
I mitt examensarbete har jag valt att ge utrymme åt ledtrådarna i detta mysterium och placerat min tolkning av illustrationerna i en tredimensionell miljö, i form av ett sällskapsspel. Elementen har blivit pjäser, spelplan och strategier, beståndsdelar som bygger upp ett spel om att uppnå evigt liv.
