BIRNBAUM, Daniel; DAVIES, Jacqui (eds.)
Tremulations

The companion book to Tremulations, an exhibition in three chapters at London’s Swedenborg House, curated by Daniel Birnbaum and Jacqui Davies.

Emanuel Swedenborg’s visionary universe is one of reflections and correspondences. Sacred scripture, he claimed, is a mirror in which we see God. At her request, he once introduced a young girl to an angel: leading her to a corner of his study, he drew back a curtain to reveal a mirror and the girl’s own face. Swedenborg, the author of On Tremulations (1719), envisioned a cosmos in which everything, including seemingly solid objects, vibrates. “In tremulations there are millions of variations”, according to the ninth and final rule of his doctrine.

The book documents the exhibition, that presented objects from the rich archives of Swedenborg House as well as writings and works of art by, among others, Marcel Duchamp, Meret Oppenheim, Yayoi Kusama, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Tony Cokes, Grace Ndiritu, as well as virtual reality works by Mark Leckey, and Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg.

Structured according to Swedenborg’s Nine Rules of Tremulation, the book also comprises an essay by the curators.

Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König / The Swedenborg Society, 2023
Design by Harald Pridgar
Exhibition Catalogues / Magic / Philosophy