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The Exhibition of Crashed Cars
Author: Mike Holliday • Nov 28th, 2005 •Category: Ballardosphere, speed & violence, visual art
In 1970, Ballard put together an ‘exhibition’ centred on a number of crashed cars that had been retreived from a London scrapyard. The background to the exhibition, its wider place in Ballard’s ouvre, and the effect on attendees, are all examined by Simon Ford in an article published in the online journal /seconds:
“Ballard’s choice of car was far from accidental. The Pontiac was a model from the mid-fifties, and thus represented a particularly baroque phase in American car styling, while the Mini symbolised the fun-loving mobility of the swinging sixties. The sober and conservative saloon, the A60, stood for the Mini’s exact antithesis. All however, through the catastrophe of the car crash, were now in a sense equivalent; smashed and levelled to the raw material of their crushed metal, broken glass, and stained upholstery.”
“… the opening party the 100-odd guests quickly became drunk, while at Ballard’s invitation a topless woman circulated, interviewing members of the audience for a closed-circuit television broadcast. The incongruity of the crashed cars and this celebratory social event was further compounded by the alcohol-induced removal of social constraints and the distancing effect of guests watching themselves on closed-circuit television monitors.”
The full article – “A Psychopathic Hymn: J. G. Ballard’s ‘Crashed Cars’ Exhibition of 1970″ – is available here.
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Mike Holliday
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