'I would sum up my fear about the future in one word: boring. And that's my one fear: that everything has happened; nothing exciting or new or interesting is ever going to happen again... the future is just going to be a vast, conforming suburb of the soul.' - J. G. Ballard
Forget the future. Not that you can remember it.
Optimistic futures are a thing of the past. They are also social, political and science fictions. The past is, at least, a reliable source of actual material from which some satisfaction can be gained. It contains wonders...and horrors. It is even mythological. It can be anything we choose in order to compose a collage of preferences.
Stephen Prince has, for years, been exploiting the past to create a present world of sound and vision through music reconstructed from visionary tape and electronic ideas. The releases on his label feature meticulous images designed to evoke the 'wyrd'. His latest book, Lost Transmissions, explores many strands of what used to be called 'hauntology', along with dystopian visions in film, hence the inclusion of the films, Rollerball and 1984.
There is much more in this book than meets the rolling eyes of cynics who think that investigations into the retro-strange are old hat. It is proof that thoughtful examination of past and (relatively) present culture offers new perspectives and as such, is highly recommended.
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Here's a collage I made today. Title: Specimen 61
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| RTomens, 2023 |
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