This performative installation sits between the kitchen, the scientific laboratory, and the workspace of a shaman, alchemist, or sorcerer. Technical gestures for preparing herbal medicines, whether coveted or disreputable, are accompanied by narratives of their journeys, tracing a “spice route” that is still in use today.

Making a capsule involves filling a small gelatin container with an active ingredient, a “pharmaceutical substance,” and sealing it. Obtaining the substance, understanding its purpose, and putting it into circulation are at the heart of this apparently simple gesture of packaging, making it impossible to separate the container from the substance.

The capsule and its contents eventually merge with the body that ingests them and with the waste it expels, losing their shape as they travel through the body and become part of the ecosystem.