Ballardian

A group of Sydney architects are doing their best to rob us of a Ballardian future.

A new interview with Michael Moorcock, discussing Burroughs, Ballard, the Bomb and more.

The return of Moorcock, Hawkwind, Frendz… and Jim Cawthorn.

RIP James Cawthorn, illustrator for New Worlds and Savoy Books; pastichist of Ballard.

Bruce Sterling wrote: ‘For the cyberpunks … technology is visceral. It is not the bottled genie of remote Big Science boffins; it is pervasive, utterly intimate. Not outside us, but next to us. Under our skin; often, inside our minds.’ And Ballard’s influence was at the heart of it.

Man survives for three months in airport terminal; doesn’t know why he’s there…

The artist Guy Peellaert, designer of Bowie’s Diamond Dogs cover and more, died this week.

A man shrugs off the clucking of his family and makes his way to International Departures. With the ticketing formalities over, he slumps at the bar and orders drinks. A flat, synthetic boarding call and he remembers his trip: ‘Last call for Silverwing 501. Please make your way to Gate 23.’

Steven Meisel: rejected by Vogue Italia, embraced by ballardian.com.

At last: furniture for the Ballardian bachelor pad.

Happy birthday, Mr Ballard.

Preliminary news about the 50th anniversary celebrations for Naked Lunch.

BLDGBLOG on Ballard, resampled architecture, homogenous global space and Michael Winterbottom.

Ballard in Esquire.

I’ve finally captured my impressions of Barcelona and Kosmopolis, with main ingredients: Lou Reed, Claire Walsh, Laurie Anderson, Kafka, Brecht, Dali, brilliant public space, Ballard, and the sheer unbridled thrill of one of the most amazing cities in Europe.

Here are some preliminary thoughts from the city of Barcelona, where I am appearing on a panel to talk about the work of J.G. Ballard as part of the Kosmopolis literary festival.

I’m off to Barcelona to talk about Ballard with Vale and Bruce Sterling as part of the Kosmopolis literary festival. If you’re Catalonia-bound, come and say hi.

Ballard on horror fiction: ‘There are sudden glimpses of the shocking and unspeakable in my fiction too, so there is a certain overlap’.

Stunning news — a new book from JGB in the works: ‘Outline for a new book, working title Conversations with My Physician. The physician in question is oncologist Professor Jonathan Waxman of Imperial College, London, who is treating Ballard for prostate cancer. While it is in part a book about cancer, and Ballard’s struggle with it, it moves on to broader themes — indeed, the subtitle is The Meaning, if Any, of Life.’

Solveig Nordlund’s Ballard adaptation, Aparelho Voador a Baixa Altitude, is rooted in reality, as this report on Spain’s ghost towns demonstrates.

Announcement for Owen Hatherley’s new book, Militant Modernism.

David Pringle’s JGB News archive is finally online.

Hard to believe a month has passed since I tended to this site. I submitted my thesis last Friday, and now it’s down to the examiners. I’m out of jail and in the halfwayhouse waiting for final parole. I can see a sliver of daylight through the crack in the angle between two walls. Coming [...]

While the site takes an enforced break, please feel invited to use the forum or browse through the archives. I shall be back with new content in a few weeks’ time.

This is a review of John Foxx’s Melbourne performance of Tiny Colour Movies, his found-film collection and live soundtrack. For the reviewer, witnessing this may have solved a two-year-old puzzle; certainly, it brought everything full circle back to Ballard.

Parallels between Ballard’s Kingdom Come and Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.

This short piece about Ballardian sound art appeared in the CCCB’s catalogue for their Ballard exhibition. Accompanying this post is a 12-track muxtape featuring selections from the music curated for the event.

From John Goff: “Myself and Dr. Shivdeep Grewal have organised a half-day conference with the title ‘J.G.Ballard: imaginary scientist’ that may be of interest to some of your site users…”

A 1:43 scale JFK motorcade and Ballard: what’s the connection?

Submissions of up to 1000 words invited on any Ballard title.

Party to celebrate Troy Paiva’s new book of photography, this Friday August 1.

More autopsy photography from Rick McGrath.

News at last.

Surreal Documents gets to grip with Ballard and Lovecraft, with satisfying results.

Exciting news about Autopsy of the New Millennium, the 4-month exhibition celebrating the work and enduring influence of J.G. Ballard, opening at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona from tomorrow 22 July, 2008.

‘Northolt through an Ubu absurd lens’: the latest photo essay from English Heretic, tracking the dark heart of Ballard’s Crash.

New Marker blog: ‘Quoting mostly, writing little, ever fascinated by and admiring always the oeuvre of Chris Marker, le plus célèbre des cinéastes inconnus.’

What is the connection between J.G. Ballard and H.P. Lovecraft? Artist John Coulthart is well placed to offer some insight into what he terms ‘superficial style at the service of a unique imagination’.

Ballard & Eno: quite possibly the ‘two greatest British thinkers of the second half of the 20th Century’.

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The forum is back online: sign up and go crazy. Who wants to be moderator?

London film screening featuring ‘futuristic visions of London’ and ‘surreal urban worlds’.

The music of kode9 and Burial: just how ‘Ballardian’ is it? We investigate the viral spread of this apparent internet meme, detouring via Crash, The Drowned World and ‘The Sound-Sweep’.

Thomas Disch on J.G. Ballard.

Would readers like to see the return of the discussion forum?

Borges y Ballard.

Wim Delvoye’s ‘Kiss’ series of x-ray art echoes The Atrocity Exhibition and the illustrations of Phoebe Gloeckner. WARNING: this post is indisputably unsafe for work. No, seriously: you have been warned.