Simon Moretti: Hereafter

With Eileen Agar, Paul Becker, Alexandra Bircken, William Blake, Ithell Colquhoun, Haris Epaminonda, Paul Heber-Percy, Donna Huddleston, Derek Jarman, Linder, Goshka Macuga, David Noonan, Ben Rivers, Daniel Silver, Michael E. Smith, Pelle Swedlund, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, George Frederic Watts, James John Garth Wilkinson and items from the Swedenborg Collection.

Inspired by Emanuel Swedenborg’s journeys into the afterlife and renowned works Heaven and Hell, Arcana Coelestia and The Principia, Swedenborg House is pleased to present an exhibition by artist Simon Moretti.

In exploring the enigmatic and mercurial figure of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) through a range of themes, including correspondences, symbols, analogies, duality, transformation, the realms of heaven and hell, cosmology, divine truth and angelic conversations, the exhibition will examine the longstanding connections between art and esotericism. Diagrammatic works, which suggest or taxonomize symbolism, are one interface used to encounter the hereafter featured in the exhibition.

The installation will showcase new works by Moretti, alongside a diverse selection of works by guest artists. The exhibition will also include items from the Swedenborg House collection, including proto-surrealist drawings by James John Garth Wilkinson (1812–1899). 

A programme of events to accompany Hereafter, including talks and screenings, will be announced in due course via the Swedenborg Society’s website and social media channels.

Hereafter publication (to be launched April 2025)
The exhibition will be accompanied by a book published by Swedenborg House and edited by Simon Moretti, featuring a selection of writers who will explore Swedenborgian themes through essays, prose and poetry. The commissioned writers include Chloe Aridjis, Jennifer Higgie and Deborah Levy. These responses will be presented alongside the works of previous Romantic and Symbolist poets who were directly influenced by Swedenborg such as Charles Baudelaire, William Blake, Jorge Luis Borges, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Stéphane Mallarmé and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as others such as Ithell Colquhoun, John Donne, Derek Jarman, Wallace Stevens and Tristan Tzara. The book will also feature a new poem written by Andrew Durbin plus images of the artists’ works and objects from the Swedenborg House collection as part of a visual essay designed by Moretti.

With thanks to Chloe Aridjis, Sylvia Kouvali, Frith Street Gallery, Large Glass, Kate MacGarry, Modern Art, Maureen Paley, Richard Shillitoe, Mattias Vendelmans and Amanda Wilkinson.

Simon Moretti is an artist based in London. His work deals with psychoanalytical and philosophical concepts through context and display, the use of appropriated images, archives, curatorial and publishing projects. 

Exhibitions include: Eau Sauvage, Mackintosh Lane, London (2022); Crocodile Cradle, PEER, London (2021); None of the Above, a project by John Armleder, Kanal-Centre Pompidou, Brussels (2020); The Enigma of the Hour, with Goshka Macuga, Freud Museum, London (2019); A Utopian Stage: To Be Free is to Loose Sight of the Shore, curated by Vali Mahlouji, Dhaka Art Summit 18, Bangladesh (2018); Revolt of the Sage, with Craig Burnett, Blain Southern, London (2017); The Camera Exposed, works from the collection, Victoria & Albert Museum, London (2016), and Les Palais des Étoiles, Dadadandy at Selfridges, London (2007).