Ballardian

I’m now on Formspring, where you can ask me anything about my forthcoming book, Applied Ballardianism: the Philosophy of J.G. Ballard, or anything Ballard-related.

There’s a brief Ballard mention in my latest photo-essay, ‘Postcards from the Edgelands (for Marion Shoard)’, originally published in Infrastructure as Architecture: Designing Composite Networks, Katrina Stoll & Scott Lloyd (eds), Berlin: Jovis, 2010. The essay uses the work of one of my main influences, the environmentalist Marion Shoard, and her research into the ‘edgelands’ (‘the interfacial interzone between urban and rural’), in order to address Infrastructure as Architecture’s main enquiry: is the involvement of architects necessary to shape the development of infrastructural design?

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.

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.

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

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.

More links from my Twitter stream.

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

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.

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

The very first Savoy/Ballardian Microfiction Competition! Write a short story of 100 words or less on “Savoyesque’ or ‘Ballardian’ themes, and win super-rare Savoy books and comic books, and Savoy CDs.

R.I.P. Mac Tonnies.

JG Ballard on the BBC TV documentary Synth Britannia.

I’m giving a paper on Ballard, circular time and the nouvelle vague this Thursday, October 1, at 3pm at ACMI in Melbourne, as part of the time.transcendence.performance conference. Come and say hello.

An update on updates…

Late tributes from the Ballardosphere: Jeannette Baxter, Mike Bonsall, Mark Fisher, Owen Hatherley, Mike Holliday and Nina Power.

Further tributes from Tim Chapman, Rick McGrath, Solveig Nordlund, Dan O’Hara, Dominika Oramus, Rick Poynor, David Pringle, Simon Sellars, Supervert and V. Vale.

Michael Moorcock’s tribute to JGB.

I have asked Ballardian contributors and associates for their thoughts on JGB’s passing. This is Part 1, featuring Ben Noys, Mark Dery and Chris Nakashima-Brown. More to come.

Moving on to Twitter for a little while…

Grovel, grovel.

The first episode of BBC Radio 7′s adaptation of The Drowned World is now online.

A Brazilian review of Kingdom Come — in the form of a comic strip.

Toby Litt on the best of JG Ballard.

Dan Hill looks at a triptych of post-apocalyptic novels: On the Beach, The Drowned World and The Road.

The first question about J.G. Ballard’s short story The Sound-Sweep put Bill Drummond immediately on the defensive…

Thoughts on Ballard, fame and reclusiveness, and Shepperton.

News on the stalled competition to design the cover of the new edition of Crash.

Autogeddon: Martin Pichlmair on the connection between Ballard and Grand Theft Auto IV.

Just a little housekeeping note…

John Gray meets Mike Skinner, discusses Ballard.

Diane Johnson, Kubrick collaborator, gets to grips with the Ballardosphere.

A slew of information on Ann Lislegaard, the brilliant artist behind ‘Crystal World (after J.G. Ballard’, the mesmerising animation that showed at the recent JGB exhibition in Barcelona. Includes links to an interview, video excerpts and stills.

If Vaughan was alive today, do you think he’d be using AutoCAD to plot celebrity autogeddon?

Announcement of the new Ballard World theme park in Dubai, following on from the Egypt, London and Shanghai versions.

Joanne McNeil on women characters in Ballard.

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.

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.

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’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’.