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DREAMS UNSEEN

14th November, 2024 – 14th February, 2025

Andrew Chalk, artist and founder of Faraway Press records, joins us this autumn to present a rare exhibition of his otherworldly landscapes and abstract depictions of the unbridled imagination.

You will find large-scale monochromatic prints, intricate pastel illustrations, and a retrospective of Faraway Press special edition releases, which reveal Chalk’s mastery of the art of bookbinding.

The show is co-curated by Louis Stevenson Miller and Ecka Mordecai, Andrew’s long-standing musical collaborator, who first encountered the pieces during a visit to his rural Yorkshire home.

“I was aware of Andrew’s black and white prints from when he was still running Faraway Press, but it was after visiting his home that I understood the scope of his creative output over the past few decades.

“As well as the monochromatic prints he’s known for, I discovered heaps of illustrative works; landscapes washed in pastel hues, short stories written in English and Japanese next to sketches of sleeping cats and the occasional shopping list atop a quaint vignette.

“Andrew is accomplished in the craft of printmaking, bookbinding, letterpress and pattern design, but beyond this, there’s this delicate, whimsical, and notably domestic aspect to his work.”

The exhibition will run from 14th November, 2024 – 14th February, 2025 and includes a series of matinee and evening concerts:

 

GOETHEAN SCIENCE

Wolfgang von Goethe was a German poet, playwright, novelist and scientist, who made contributions to optics, botany, meteorology and palaeontology.

As science was removed from the world of the senses, Goethe recognised an increased tendency for pre-conceived ideas and prejudice to enter into and influence the outcome of an experiment. As a means of introducing abstract science with the process of participating in the phenomenon, Goethe developed a series of observational practices that combined mental and sensory perception, using active and passive imagination exercises with unreserved attention to external details encourage practitioners to take the measure for knowledge, not from themselves, but from the circle of what they observe, relying on their own experience.

Goethe’s scientific writings had a significant influence on the development of European thought, on the philosophers Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer and Rudolf Steiner. The observation exercises found a more willing and responsive audience amongst artists, and undergoing changes according to the theosophical principles by Steiner, were newly embraced by Wassily Kandinsky, Hilma af Klimt and Joseph Bueys.

 

Goethe’s scientific writings had a significant influence on the development of European thought, on the philosophers Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhauer and Rudolf Steiner. The observation exercises he developed to introduce abstract science with the process of participating in the phenomenon, found a willing and receptive audience amongst artists. Advanced according to theosophical principles by Rudolf Steiner, Goethe’s emphasis on the experience is

 

With Goethe’s emphasis on the importance of the experience, his influence can be hard to trace. Advanced according to theoshopical prnicples by Rudolf Steiner, these teachings were absorbed by

 

and undergoing changes according to the theosophical principles by Steiner, were newly embraced by Wassily Kandinsky, Hilma af Klimt and Joseph Bueys.

 

who developed these ideas according to theosophical principles. Finding a willing and receptive audience in the arts, these exercises were embraced by Wassily kandinsky, who taught Goethea

 

according to  The exercises found a willing and receptive audience in the arts, notably on

Goethe’s scientific writings had a significant impact on the development of European thought, on the philosophers Friedrich Hegel and Rudolf Steiner. His observation exercises found a willing and receptive audience in the arts.

 

The Metamorphosis of Plants

“It came to me in a flash, that in the organ of the plant that we are accustomed to call the leaf, lies the true Proteus who can hide or reveal himself in all vegetal forms.”

This is Goethe’s own account of his discovery of the Urpflanze or Plant Archetype that came to him whilst walking in the Palermo Gardens in Sicily. The continuous movement that can be observed throughout the leafing, flowering and fruiting stages of the plant is what he referred to as the metamorphosis.

After explaining the conception of the plant archetype to Friedrich Schiller to which he replied “that is not an experience, that is an idea”, to which Goethe responded famously by saying “then I am very glad to have ideas without knowing it, and even to see them with my own eyes.” Schiller would later conclude by describing Goethe’s scientific process as “delicate empricism”.

In this course we combine the observational practices, exact sensorial perception and exact sensorial imagination to observe the plant in its state of becoming. By choosing an ally, we will be drawing and describing the plant, and witholding judgement, recreate in the mind’s eye the coming into being of the plant before allowing our experience to inform our understanding.

By going beyond a merely intellectual explanation, this course is a fascinating study of Being and Becoming, and offers the opportunity to experience the idea for yourself. Led by Philip Franses who will provide guidance for self directed study.

 

Two-Fold Vision: Goethe’s Dark and Newton’s Light

 

 

 

With his emphasis on the experience, his influence can be hard to trace, yet it can be seen in the manner in which John Ruskin

 

His scientific writings had a significant influence on the development of European thought, on the philosophers Friedrich Hegel, Arthur Schopenhaeur and Rudolf Steiner, and in the arts, on John Ruskin, Hilma af Klimt and Wassily Kandinsky.

As modern science moved further from the world of the senses, Goethe recognised an increased tendency to allow pre-conceived ideas and opinions to enter into and the conception of the whole. “We should take the measure for knowledge”, he says, “not from ourselves, but from the circle of what we observe.” To do this, Goethe developed a method that combined mental and sensory perception, using active and passive imagination exercises with unreserved attention to external details in an attempt to familiarise abstract science with the process of participating in the phenomenon.

 

 

We are delighted to announce a collaborative partnership with Philip Franses, former head of Science at Schumacker College in Dartington, to offer two self-contained courses on Optics and The Metamorphosis of Plants, taught according to observational science practices developed by Wolfgang von Goethe.

THE PROMETHEUS TRUST

The Prometheus Trust hold regular meetings at Bound & Infinity for those interested in the living tradition that traces its roots back to Plato, Pythagoras and beyond. No prior acquaintance with philosophy is necessary, all are welcome to take part.

 

Orphic Myth and Memory

April 25th, 2025

You will find a spring on your left in Hades’ halls and by it the cypress with its luminous sheen. Do not go near this spring or drink its water. You will find another, cold water flowing from Memory’s lake; its guardians stand before it. Say: “I am a child of Earth and starry Heaven, but descended from Heaven; you yourselves know this. I am parched with thirst and dying: quickly, give me the cool water flowing from Memory’s lake.” And they will give you water from the sacred spring and then you will join the heroes at their rites. This [is the …. of Memo]ry: [on the point of] death… write this… the darkness folding [you] within it.

From the Petelia gold tablet

“The Grecian theology”, says Thomas Taylor, “which originated from Orpheus, was not only promulgated by him, but also by Pythagoras and Plato… By the first of these… mystically and symbolically; by the second, enigmatically, and through images; and scientifically by the third.“

Beginning with Aristotle, commentators have remained divided on Orpheus’ role within the Western Tradition. For some, he is real only as an allegorical figure, typically shown as descending into the Underworld to bring Eurydice back from the dead, whilst for others, he is a historical person and founder of the Dionysian Mysteries.

In recent years, an increasing number of votive offerings, such as the Petalia gold tablet, have been found buried with aspirants that give instructions on how to pass through the Hadean or after-death states. These and other artefacts, including newly discovered Orphic poems, show evidence that Orphism travelled from the outskirts of Thrace into the mainland of Greece and may have originated with wandering bards and shamans.

Looking at the numerous references to Orphic myth found throughout Plato’s dialogues, in this session we will explore how much the cult of Orpheus appears to inform Platonic doctrines of reincarnation, salvation and enlightenment.

 

Eikos Muthos: A Story of Likeness

November 22nd, 2025

The Timaeus is narrated by a Pythagorean philosopher who calls his vision of a creative and manifest universe, eikos muthos or “a story of likeness”.

Making the usual distinction between things which are eternal — things which are — and those that are temporal — things which are in process, Plato shows us how these aspects are necessarily the result of certain causes.

In this session we will be comparing the ancient world view that the cosmos is a “living animal”, described in the dialogue as “beautiful”, and “full of intelligence”, with the three primary causes:

The “efficient or “producing” cause, called the “craftsman”, Demiurge or Zeus – whose nature is eternally creative and intellectual; the “paradigmatic” cause, called autozoon or “animal itself” – a single, living, all encompassing and eternal model; and the “final cause”, called the Good, which is all pervading.

 

The Phaedo: An Introduction to Platonic Philosophy

With Tim and Miranda Addey

We learn from the most ancient biographies of Plato, that before he travelled to Egypt and Chaldea, he first studied the dramatic works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

In no other dialogue is this more apparent in the narrative than the Phaedo, and of all Plato’s writings, except perhaps the Symposium, it is the most saturated in the mystery teachings.

Taking place during the Theseia, a sacred Athenian festival held in honour of Theseus and the Minotaur, and after Socrates has been tried and condemned, the dialogue culminates in Socrates drinking the hemlock, embodying Plato’s vision of a hero soul passing beyond life and death.

The allusions between the myth, as it was known amongst the ancients, and the characters as they appear in the dialogue, would have been much less discreet to Plato’s contemporary audience than they are today.

Considering the subtle use of imagery and symbolism, Tim and Miranda Addey will present an introduction to Platonism through the Phaedo. This is the first in a regular series of monthly meetings at Bound & Infinity on Platonic philosophy with The Prometheus Trust.

Plato once famously declared that all of life is a preparation for death, appreciated in this way, Platonic philosophy can be seen as a Western counterpart to the Eastern enlightenment traditions, where henosis (union) or moksha (liberation) is sought through deep compassion, self-effacement and a life-time of constant aspiration.