“I then grasped a new and astonishing poetic secret, for the shock which I experienced had been provoked precisely by the affinity of two objects…” René Magritte

A display of rare items from the Swedenborg House Collection (including works by William Blake, André Breton, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, amongst others) counterpointed by artworks, films, and audio chosen by invited artists, filmmakers and writers including the Quay Brothers, Iain Sinclair, and more.

Elective Affinities—once a term used in chemistry to describe the swapping of electrical charges between atoms—is the title of a novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and, more recently, the name of a work of art by the Belgian Surrealist René Magritte. The idea of an “elective affinity” coheres with the thought of the philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), who devised a theory of correspondence around material objects and their spiritually paired meaning. Swedenborg also thought our inner values and thoughts find a natural and elective gravitation towards certain objects, places, and communities.

In part a celebration of 100 years at Swedenborg House, the exhibition will extend throughout the four-story premises and incorporate curatorial contributions from all staff.