In Autumn 2023, I served as Artistic Director for Into the Sublime: The Eidophusikon Reimagined, an ambitious project led by artist, filmmaker, and scholar Dr Gillian McIver. The project reimagined the original 18th-century Eidophusikon by Philip James de Loutherbourg RA, widely considered a forerunner to modern cinema, by combining historic inspiration with contemporary artistic practice.

The installation was staged at Swedenborg House’s Wynter Room, a period library setting steeped in history, offering a fitting environment to explore themes of the afterlife, materiality, and the Divine, drawing heavily on the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg, a known influence on de Loutherbourg. The project combined dramatic scenography, lighting, gauze, painted backdrops, atmospheric sound design, and multi-media elements, incorporating the work of a range of contemporary international artists.

In my role as Artistic Director, I was responsible for:

• Creative and production oversight of the live performance activations.

• Performance direction, working with visual artists, sound designers, and technical teams to create a seamless, immersive audience experience.

• Interpretation of the five-scene structure of the original Eidophusikon into a contemporary performance model, maintaining fidelity to historical references while introducing new conceptual approaches.

• Audience journey design, shaping the transitions between scenes and moments of engagement within the installation.

• Collaborative curation, supporting the integration of diverse contemporary artworks into the visual and narrative flow of the piece.

• Technical coordination, liaising between the production team and artists to align lighting, sound, projection, and atmospheric effects.

Into the Sublime operated both as an open exhibition and a series of ticketed, timed performances across several evenings in October 2023. Visitors experienced a layered aesthetic world where historical scenography merged with contemporary visual storytelling, creating moments of awe, contemplation, and resonance with Swedenborg’s metaphysical ideas.

This project allowed me to engage deeply with historical reconstruction, immersive installation practices, and multidisciplinary artistic collaboration, and stands as a major highlight of my ongoing work in experimental performance and cross-arts production.