Tag: Gillian McIver

Profane and Sacred City

an event at Swedenborg House

I organized an event at Swedenborg House in London to kick off my Artist in Residence program. At the event, I showcased a play I am currently writing called “Count Cagliostro’s Apologia,” which was directed by Jagoda Kamov and featured actor Maurizio Molino. Additionally, I delivered a talk about my residency and the project I plan to work on. During the event, I also spoke about my upcoming illustrated book titled “The Mystagogue.” Furthermore, I introduced Robert Poulter and his New Model Theatre performance. To conclude the event, Femi Oriogun-Williams performed music based on the 18th-century scores of composer Jean-Hipplyte Barthelemon, accompanied by a video created by Marwan Elgamal.I organized an event at Swedenborg House in London to kick off my Artist in Residence program. At the event, I showcased a play I am currently writing called “Count Cagliostro’s Apologia,” which was directed by Jagoda Kamov and featured actor Maurizio Molino. Additionally, I delivered a talk about my residency and the project I plan to work on. During the event, I also spoke about my upcoming illustrated book titled “The Mystagogue.” Furthermore, I introduced Robert Poulter and his New Model Theatre performance. To conclude the event, Femi Oriogun-Williams performed music based on the 18th-century scores of composer Jean-Hipplyte Barthelemon, accompanied by a video created by Marwan Elgamal.

Residency

I am happy to announce that starting this autumn 2023 I will be Artist and Researcher in Residence at the Swedenborg Centre, the locus of the Swedenborg Society in London.

I am researching the 18thC painter, stage designer and VFX artist Phlip James de Loutherbourg. Loutherbourg is the ‘missing link’ between art and cinema. A stage designer who developed the first ‘mechanical’ theatre show aimed at delivering a sublime ‘proto-cinematic’ experience, Loutherbourg was also a serious alchemist and occultist.

The Swedenborg Residency will involve my researching this little-known but tremendously influential artist, and creating a version of his remarkable ‘Eidophusikon’ mechanical theatre. I will also be curating and writing a graphic novel ‘Reanimating the Mystagogue’ on the life and work of Loutherbourg, his occult practice, his friendships and his life in 18thC London.

The research will be the foundation of an eventual biography of Loutherbourg.


Swedenborg House

My talk about Loutherbourg on SHWEP (the Secret History of Western Esotericism podcast) with Earl Fontanelle

‘Magic, Technology, Art, and Enlightenment’

Works by de Loutherbourg: