Swedish Ecstasy

Sweden may be seen as a Protestant nation of great engineers and entrepreneurs, but the nation's spiritual life has long been governed by a less official current, visible in its art and literature. Mysticism and esoteric speculation runs through the writings of some of Sweden's most important figures, from the 18th-century scientist, theologian and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg to the turn of the 20th-century with August Strindberg, known as a novelist and playwright, but who was also involved in alchemical experiments, occult photography and proto-expressionist paintings that verge on abstraction. In the same period we find visual art by visionaries such as Carl Fredrik Hill, Ernst Josephson and Hilma af Klint. These visions continue to inspire contemporary artists such as Cecilia Edefalk, Carsten Höller, Christine Ödlund, Daniel Youssef, Lars Olof Loeld. With texts by the exhibition's curator Daniel Birnbaum, James Brett, Peter Cornell, Briony Fer, Magnus Florin, Jennifer Higgie, Carsten Höller, Stephen McNeilly as well as Svante Tirén on Swedish Sami culture. Thus past and future come together in this catalogue that examines Swedish artists who have translated their experiences of transcendent spheres into ecstatic artworks. Exhibition: Bozar, Paleis voor Schone Kunsten, Brussels, Belgium (17.02. - 21.05.2023).