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Author Archive

Affirmative architectural dystopias

By Simon Sellars • Aug 23rd, 2010 •

Category: Ballardosphere, academia, architecture, enviro-disaster

Next week, I’ll be speaking on ‘affirmative architectural dystopias’ at Monash University’s conference Changing the Climate: Utopia, Dystopia and Catastrophe. I’m on a panel representing Pia Ednie-Brown’s Plastic Futures project at the Spatial Information Architecture Laboratory, RMIT University. My paper is centred around the theories of François Roche, Greg Lynn and Ballard, but it also considers the work of Nic Clear, Archigram, Bruce Sterling, Geoff Manaugh and Marion Shoard.



The Emergence of the Posthuman Subject

By Simon Sellars • Jun 30th, 2010 •

Category: Ballardosphere, posthumanism

Conference registration details for The Emergence of the Posthuman Subject, 2-3 July 2010. To be Held at University of Surrey, Continuing Education Centre (CEC), 2nd Floor Senate House.



Review: Geeta Dayal’s Another Green World

By Simon Sellars • Jun 1st, 2010 •

Category: Brian Eno, Lead Story, film, music, reviews

It’s often said that for a writer who claimed never to listen to music, Ballard has had an inordinate influence on a whole ecosystem of musicians. But sometimes more fruitful connections can be found in the slipstream, in parallel worlds where sui generis artists ply their trade in different fields with equally brilliant results. Brian Eno is such a musician, and this is a review of Geeta Dayal’s book about his 1975 album, Another Green World



Landing Sites

By Simon Sellars • Mar 25th, 2010 •

Category: Arakawa + Gins, Ballardosphere, film, psychogeography

This is vaguely Ballardian: my two-minute short film based on the ‘reversible destiny’ theory of the architects/conceptual artists Arakawa and Gins.



“Enthusiasm for the mysterious emissaries of pulp”: an interview with David Britton (the Savoy interviews, part 2a)

By Simon Sellars • Feb 22nd, 2010 •

Category: H.P. Lovecraft, Iain Sinclair, Ian Curtis, Lead Story, New Worlds, Savoy Books, Shanghai, audio, censorship, interviews, literature, music, punk

The story of Savoy Books is one of the strangest in publishing history: a tale of lost opportunities, missed opportunities, repression, censorship, imprisonment … and, most importantly, an incredible legacy of work that continues to disturb, challenge and confront. All of those qualities are equally applicable to Savoy Records, the music arm of Savoy’s black empire, as Simon Sellars discovers when he talks to Savoy co-founder David Britton. The interview features sound clips from selected Savoy releases.



“Enthusiasm for the mysterious emissaries of pulp”: an interview with David Britton (the Savoy interviews, part 2b)

By Simon Sellars • Feb 22nd, 2010 •

Category: H.P. Lovecraft, Iain Sinclair, Ian Curtis, New Worlds, Savoy Books, audio, censorship, literature, music, punk

The story of Savoy Books is one of the most strangest in publishing history: a tale of lost opportunities, missed opportunities, repression, censorship, imprisonment … and, most importantly, an incredible legacy of work that continues to disturb, challenge and confront. All of those qualities are equally applicable to Savoy Records, the music arm of Savoy’s black empire, as Simon Sellars discovers when he talks to Savoy co-founder David Britton. The interview features sound clips from selected Savoy releases.



Crash: Homage to JG Ballard

By Simon Sellars • Feb 12th, 2010 •

Category: Ballardosphere, visual art

Press release for the Gagosian Gallery exhibition “Crash,” a major group exhibition opening on 11 February 2010, which takes its title from the famous novel by JG Ballard.



Review: Jeremy Reed’s West End Survival Kit

By Simon Sellars • Feb 8th, 2010 •

Category: CCTV, Hawkwind, Lead Story, alternate worlds, biology, body horror, boredom, celebrity culture, conspiracy theory, consumerism, cyberpunk, death of affect, entropy, inner space, psychopathology, reviews, surrealism, surveillance, technology

A review-essay of Jeremy Reed’s latest collection of poetry, West End Survival Kit. The review also discusses the long and enigmatic relationship Reed has with Ballard, who wrote the foreword to the collection, where he paid tribute to Reed’s ‘extraterrestrial talent’.



Ballardian/Savoy Microfiction competition winners

By Simon Sellars • Feb 2nd, 2010 •

Category: Lead Story, Savoy Books, competitions, features

In November, we announced our first microfiction competition, promoting our 3-part series of interviews with luminaries from Savoy Books. As the second interview is due online soon, we thought now’s the time to announce the prizewinners… Many thanks to all who entered!



Twitter links, part 2

By Simon Sellars • Jan 16th, 2010 •

Category: Ballardosphere, Twitter updates

More links from my Twitter stream.



Twitter: Defending the Indefensible

By Simon Sellars • Jan 11th, 2010 •

Category: Ballardosphere, Twitter updates

A weekly archive of Ballardian-related links and observations on Twitter.



Ballardian.com’s ‘Top 10′ lists for 2009

By Simon Sellars • Jan 4th, 2010 •

Category: Ballardosphere, advertising, architecture, film, invisible literature, sexual politics

Probably of no interest to anyone but me, but here goes: top 10 most-read posts on ballardian.com in 2009; top 10 search-engine phrases leading visitors to the site in 2009; and top 10 links from other sites in 2009.



The 032c Interview: Simon Reynolds on Ballard, part 2

By Simon Sellars • Dec 7th, 2009 •

Category: Brian Eno, Lead Story, New Worlds, Philip K. Dick, William Burroughs, interviews, music, science fiction, short stories

Simon Reynolds is one of the most recognizable music critics around. His work reached a peak with the publication of Rip It Up and Start Again, a timely excavation of post-punk: Cabaret Voltaire, PiL, Magazine, and so on. What’s more, J.G. Ballard was a thread throughout the book, as Reynolds charted the influence of JGB — and especially his experimental novel, The Atrocity Exhibition — on the era. In this interview, as Simon meets Simon, these topics are discussed in the wake of JGB’s death.



Extended deadline: Ballardian/Savoy microfiction competition

By Simon Sellars • Dec 5th, 2009 •

Category: Ballardosphere, Savoy Books, competitions

Due to popular demand, the Ballardian/Savoy microfiction competition deadline has now been extended to 15 December. Keep those entries coming!



Stereoscopic Urbanism: JG Ballard and the Built Environment

By Simon Sellars • Nov 14th, 2009 •

Category: Lead Story, architecture, audio, features, inner space, perception, psychogeography, urban decay

The fiction of JG Ballard was centred almost wholly on the built environment. Ballard took architectural design to its logical extreme and then contorted it further. Simon Sellars looks at how architects can learn from Ballard and, specifically, his use of urban sound as a metaphor.



Ballard on Synth Britannia

By Simon Sellars • Oct 20th, 2009 •

Category: Ballardosphere, music

JG Ballard on the BBC TV documentary Synth Britannia.



Hello world!

By Simon Sellars • Sep 7th, 2002 •

Category: Uncategorized

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!