In celebration of the launch of Concerning an Idea about Place, published in conjunction with the exhibition Swedenborg’s Lusthus, the Society’s Museum Director Stephen McNeilly will be in conversation with the artist and writer Mark Riley on a range of topics including the exhibition, ideas about place, Riley’s art practice and the new title being launched. The talk will be followed by a Q&A.

about Mark Riley

Dr. Mark Riley is an independent artist and scholar. His practice is informed by discourses that address the complexities of place. He has shown work at the Architecture Biennale in Venice in 2018. As well as currently showing work at Swedenborg House,  he has most recently presented components of his ongoing ‘Thinking Place’ project at The Oxford House Gallery in Bethnal Green and The University of Roehampton. His work is currently included in the exhibition at Swedenborg House, Swedenborg’s Lusthus: Into the Garden.

about the book

How does place inform our thought? Does thought itself have spatiality? Taking cues from the likes of the great French philosopher Gaston Bachelard, in Concerning an idea about place (2024), Stephen McNeilly uses the eighteenth-century summerhouse (or lusthus) occupied by the scientist, philosopher and mystic Emanuel Swedenborg asa portal through which to consider the influence of place and architecture upon the visionary condition.

Written by the curator of the two-phase exhibition Swedenborg’s Lusthus, this text is an expanded version of an essay that first appeared in the pioneering book Swedenborg’s Lusthus (2024). It is presented in an easily portable and elegant paperback, with attractive covers by artist Anonymous Bosch. Swedenborg House has stocked a limited edition of 200 numbered copies to coincide with the exhibition.

about the exhibition

The exhibition is open from 10.AM to 5PM Monday to Friday. Entrance is free to all. For a 3D tour of the first phase of the exhibition, Swedenborg’s Lusthus: on memory and place, click on this image.

The exhibition is curated by the Society’s Museum Director Stephen McNeilly and is part of a series of ongoing projects connecting artefacts held in the collection at Swedenborg House to the broader framework of contemporary art practices. Showcasing new works by Anonymous Bosch, Mark Riley, Ben Wickey, John Christie, Daniel Birnbaum, Peter Cartwright, Iain Sinclair and others this immersive and multi-media exhibition explores the unique spatial conditions of this enigmatic eighteenth-century building and the broader question of the relationship between place, dwelling and the conditions of our visionary states.

about the curator

Stephen McNeilly is an editor, writer, artist, curator and museum director of Swedenborg House. He has curated numerous exhibitions and events, the most recent being Concerning an Idea about Place (2023) and is the editor of numerous books including Swedenborg’s Lusthus.

image credits:

Summerhouse model: Mark Riley

Book cover image: Anonymous Bosch

Book cover design: The Quinn Fizzlers

Bottom left: Poster image: Anonymous Bosch; Poster Design: The Quinn Fizzlers

Bottom right: Poster image & design: The Quinn Fizzlers