Monday 22 December 2008

Ken Hollings 3:AM Interview


‘It is in the nature of synthesis and control to disappear into the background precisely because they actually are the background. At the centre of the book is a preoccupation with human consciousness: how it operates and how it can be operated upon, what models can be used to comprehend it and which ones can be used to manipulate it. These are still issues that affect us today; we’re just a little more aware of it now’ - Ken Hollings, 3:AM

Andrew Stevens of 3:AM Magazine and editor of the 3:AM London-New York-Paris anthology has just posted a fairly extensive interview with me on the 3:AM website. Developed out of a regular exchange of emails between Andrew and myself over the past few weeks ‘Everyone Should Have Their Own Factory Catalogue Number...’ covers everything from my early days with Biting Tongues to the publication of Destroy All Monsters and the thinking behind Welcome to Mars. During the first two or three questions I was prepared to accept the email interview as the digital extension of a spontaneous speech act, but by the sixth or seventh question I was not so certain anymore. This is a fascinating form of exchange that requires further thought and exploration. Whatever is going on here shouldn’t be taken lightly. Who or what, for example, is actually speaking in an email interview?

The image at the top of this post was taken by Simon Tyszko during my recent reading at Phlight. See the previous post for more details.

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