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A Magnetist Dreams of Universal Healing
Single-channel video
1920 px x 1080 px
1:26 min
Commissioned by Flora Weil for Design in Rising Winds, a research project sponsored by M+ Museum and Design Trust
In 1779, Franz Anton Mesmer declared his discovery of “animal magnetism,” a “universal agent” with magnetic qualities subtly flowing through all of nature. In the same year, An anonymous Jesuit mis sionary brought Chinese concepts of yin-yang into Enlightenment France, documenting its hydraulic vision of the body maintaining a balance of energy.
Joseph Marie Amiot, a missionary based in Beijing, believed that Chinese natural philosophy could guide European science. While Mesmerism was quickly discredited by chemists, Amiot continued trying to bring Daoist philosophy into Enlightenment France. He outlined a plan to form a secret society, Order of the Universal Figure, that would unite European science with Chinese natural philosophy.
What if Mesmerist magnetism is a real scientific mechanism? What if Amiot’s secret society came to fruition? What if the intellectual products of the Enlightenment are turned upside down? A magnetist may dream of a hydraulic planet-body, a jade satellite orbiting the earth to perform remote healing.
Design in Rising Winds, research project led by Flora Weil
2024
Sponsored by M+ Museum, Design Trust
Lavender Town, curated by Miles Peyton and Cori Cannavino
2024
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