Elective Affinities

Swedenborg House is proud to announce Elective Affinities, a landmark exhibition marking 100 years at its historic Bloomsbury premises. Running from September 18, 2025 to February 27, 2026, the exhibition will span all four floors of the building and bring together rare archival treasures with contemporary works by leading artists, filmmakers and writers.

Taking inspiration from the term coined in early chemistry, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 1809 novel, and a celebrated painting by René Magritte, Elective Affinities explores the mysterious connection between objects, ideas and inner experience. At its core lies the thought of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), whose philosophy of correspondences proposed a resonance between objects, places and events and our thoughts and affections.

Curated by Stephen McNeilly, the exhibition features rarely seen items from the Swedenborg House Collection, including works by William Blake, Helen Keller, Queen Ulrika Eleonora, André Breton and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. These historic pieces are counterpointed by newly nominated artworks, films and audio from invited contemporary figures including the acclaimed filmmakers The Quay Brothers, renowned writers Iain Sinclair, Xiaolu Guo and Chloe Aridjis, and award-winning artists Shezad Dawood and Kate MccGwire amongst others.

“Swedenborg believed that our affections and thoughts gravitate naturally toward certain objects, communities and places”, says curator Stephen McNeilly. “This exhibition looks to animate these connections, mapping a series of poetic affinities across time and disciplines.”

Elective Affinities will also feature a full public programme of talks, screenings and performances, with further details available at www.swedenborg.org.uk. For attendance at the Private View on September 18, please RSVP using the button above or contact info@swedenborg.org.uk.

Curated by: Stephen McNeilly

Including: Alice Albinia, Chloe Aridjis, Homero Aridjis, François Hippolyte Barthélemon, William Blake, André Breton, The Quay Brothers, Josephine Butler, Colin Buttimer, Leonora Carrington, Jacob Cartwright, Peter Cartwright, Brian Catling, S T Coleridge, Shezad Dawood, Queen Ulrika Eleonora, Tessa Farmer, John Flaxman, Margarita Gluzberg, Xiaolu Guo, Marcelle Hanselaar, Asger Jorn, Dean Kenning, Helen Keller, Eden and Andrew Kötting, T E Lawrence, Philip James de Loutherbourg, Kate MccGwire, David McKee, Stephen McNeilly, Simon Moretti, Paul O'Kane, Mark Riley, Iain Sinclair, Oda Iselin Sønderland, D T Suzuki, Emanuel Swedenborg, Natalia Zagórska-Thomas, Vernon Watkins, Ben Wickey, J J G Wilkinson, Viktor Wynd

Additional nominators: Rebekka Cartwright, Anthony Finnigan, Rufus Moore, Alex Murray, Denise Prentice, Anya Reeve, Adam Skipper, James Wilson 

Press contact: Assistant Curator, Anya Reeve, info@swedenborg.org.uk, T: +44 (0)20 7405 7986