Lectures 2012

Most of my lectures took place in academic environments during the course of 2012. Over seven weeks between October and December 2012 I was again asked to present my lecture series to MA Communication Design students at Central Saint Martins. The themes were Media, Machines, Networks, Spaces, Dreams, Events, Cognition, following the same basic pattern as in previous years, but the lectures were also greatly expanded incorporating screenings of extended movie and documentary clips, breakout discussions and seminars. To expand the depth these still further I also presented a series of ‘Networks’ workshops to students on the Central St Martins MA Innovation Management course. Other lectures were given at Middlesex University and the University of Brighton School of Art. In addition to these I was also invited to speak at the following events:

October 11

‘The Psychoanalysis of Trash’

A lecture on Ludwig II of Bavaria, alchemy, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson as part of the English Heretic AGM held at the Masonic Hall in Bath

See also: Psychopathia Esoterica

Philosophica Geometrica Abstracta

Worshipful Company

May 4

‘Alien Transmissions: Sputnik, McLuhan and the Voices of Space’

Late-night lecture delivered as part of the Sonores festival in Guimaraes, Portugal  - the talk was streamed live from the Sonores website and was available as a podcast for the dureation of the festival.

March 25

‘Brain Wars: A Lecture on William Sargant’

Lecture in the Wellcome Library on William Sargant, behaviour modification and neuro-terrorism, introduced by Quentin Cooper, as part of the Wellcome Institute’s programme of talks ‘The Thing Is…’

See also:

The Thing Is – William Sargant’s Lobotomy Needles

Lectures 2011

December 2

‘On Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones’

Lecture at Tate Britain on the Pre-Raphaelite painter’s greatest work, The Golden Stairs before a late-night audience as part of the Tate Rehang initiative.

See also: On the Golden Stairs

December 1

‘After Haussman’

Lecture on architecture and social control as part of ‘There’s a Riot Goin’ On’, a special panel convened to discuss the August 2011 riots in the UK. Also taking part are Suzanne Moore, Gavin Knight, Daiv Mathews and KH

See also: After Haussman: There’s a Riot Goin’ On

May 5

LIVING IN SPACE

KH lectures about outer space, architecture and human consciousness as part of the Strange Attractor Salon at the Institute of Contemporary Arts http://www.ica.org.uk/28343/Talks/Ken-Hollings-The-Stuff.html in London

See also: Spacemen of the Free World

April 7

THE PSYCHOANALYSIS OF TRASH

KH lectures on Ludwig II, Crown Prince Rudolf, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson as part of ‘Pretty –Ugly’ an event at the Gopher Hole, London

February 11

CAGE POST CAGE
Lecture on John  Cage’s influence on text and its relationship to music as part of Off The Page, a festival on the practice of music and writing, organized by Sound and Music in association with The Wire, Playhouse Theatre, Whistable

February 2

INVADING PRESENT TIME: THE POLITICS OF SIMULATION

Ecole de recherches graphiques, Brussels as part of their CORPS/MACHINE series

See also: Dead Fingers Talking

‘Invading Present Time: The Politics of Simulation’

January 26

WELCOME TO THE LABYRINTH: ON DESIGN AND MODERN THOUGHT 

Lectures 2010

‘HOLLINGSVILLE CHRISTMAS LECTURE
Special lecture on Welcome to Mars, the suburbs and the rise and fall of the 1950s

December 1
COME DRESSED AS YOUR MADNESS
Lecture delivered as part of the Fashion in Film Festival’s ‘Birds of Paradise’ series to accompany special screenings of Kenneth Anger’s Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome and Max Reinhardt’s Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Horse Hospital

BRIGHT LABYRINTH LECTURE: COGNITION Lecture # 8 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site, December 1

BRIGHT LABYRINTH LECTURE: TRASH Lecture # 7 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site, November 24

BRIGHT LABYRINTH LECTURE: EVENTS Lecture # 6 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site, November 17

BRIGHT LABYRINTH LECTURE: SPACES Lecture # 5 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site November 10

BRIGHT LABYRINTH LECTURES:DREAMS

Lecture # 4 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site November 3

BRIGHT LABYRINTH LECTURE: NETWORKS

Lecture # 3 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site October 20

October 13

ON NORMAN O. BROWN'S LOVE'S BODY

Lecture presentation at the International Society of Typographical Designers event ‘Talking Books’

See also: ISTD Talking Books Event Recollected

BRIGHT LABYRINTH LECTURES: MACHINES

Lecture # 2 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site October 13

BRIGHT LABYRINTH LECTURE: MEDIA,

Lecture # 1 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site October 6

September 10

ALIEN TRANSMISSIONS: Sputnik, McLuhan and the Voices of Space
Lecture given as part of an all-day live radio event curated by Inheritance Projects  as part of Charlie Woolley’s ‘Mysterious Cults’ exhibition at SPACE Studios, London, September 11

May 10
THE PURPLE DEATH: Or Further Notes on Camp and the Heroic Rise of the Lowbrow
Lecture given at Siegen Museum for Contemporary Art  as part of a four-day symposium,  ‘Heroes, Ubermenschen, Superheroes: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Aesthetics and Politicization of Extraordinary Humans’ organized by Kritische Berichte, May 8

April 10
THE IMAGE DEMANDS TO BE HEARD:
Lecture given at a screening of Johnny YesNo at Sensoria 10, Sheffield, April 23

March 10
COGNITION
Lecture # 8 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site March 17

TRASH
Lecture # 7 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site March 10

EVENTS  
Lecture # 6 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site March 3

February 10
SPACES
Lecture # 5 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site February 24

MARSHALL MCLUHAN AND MEDIA THEORY
A lecture to BA History of Art and Design students at Middlesex University, Cat Hill Campus, February 19

DREAMS
Lecture # 4 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site February 17

NETWORKS
Lecture # 3 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site February 10

MACHINES
Lecture # 2 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site February 3

January 10
MEDIA  
Lecture # 1 in a series given to MA Communication Design students at Central St Martins, Back Hill site January 27

Lectures 2009

November 09
HISTORY AND HARDWARE: A Lecture on the Mechanical Reproduction of Sound and Vision
Lecture to BA Graphic Design students at Central St Martins.
Related posts:
BAGD Lecture Gallery

THE FUTURE IS BACK: A Lecture on Marshall McLuhan
Lecture to BA Graphic Design students at Central St Martins.
Related posts
‘The Future is Back’ Resources

March 09
WELCOME TO THE LABYRINTH: Some Further Thoughts on Requiem for the Network’Lecture given at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, March 21, as part of the exhibition programme for Embedded Art: Art in the Name of Security.
Related posts:
Olaf Arndt: Labyrinth and Camp
Embedded Art: Photo Op at the Brandenburg Tor
Ken Hollings ‘Embedded Art’ Lecture at the Berlin Akademie der Kunste
Requiem for the Network: Warhead
Requiem for the Network: Fifth Stage
Embedded Art: Below Ground
Embedded Art: Above Ground
Embedded Art: The Eyes That Never Close
Embedded Art: Press Quotes
Embedded Art on CNN
Requiem for the Network: Fourth Stage
Requiem for the Network: Third Stage
Embedded Art: First Response
Requiem for the Network: Second Stage
Requiem for the Network: First Stage
Embedded Art

INVADING PRESENT TIME: The Politics of Simulation, The Bright Labyrinth, Lecture Nine

February 09
FROM THE DREAM OF VENUS TO ATLANTIS IN HI-FI, The Bright Labyrinth, Lecture Eight

DURATION Or the Birth of Chance Out of the Spirit of Music, The Bright Labyrinth, Lecture Seven

January 09
GODZILLA HAS LEFT THE BUILDING - And How He Got There, The Bright Labyrinth, Lecture Six

Lectures 2008

December 08
THE PURPLE DEATH: Further Notes on Camp and the Rise of the Lowbrow, The Bright Labyrinth, Lecture Five

MORPHOLOGY OF THE WOUND: Bodily Images of Ecstasy and Excess, The Bright Labyrinth, Lecture Four

November 08
‘No Retreat, No Surrender: Images of Ecstasy and Excess in Sport’ Joint lecture presentation with Dr Axel Vogelsang at University of Applied Sciences and Art, Institute of Design in Lucerne – containing preparatory material from ‘Morphology of the Wound’

‘Information as Art Form’ A lecture at Bern University of the Arts on the role of research and interdisciplinary practice in the use of text, music and film: an expanded version of the Walsall College lecture, including a screening of ‘SpaceBaby’, plus a presentation on the themes of ‘Welcome to Mars’ and a reading from the book. This was followed by an afternoon workshop with the students and Dr Axel Vogelsang

‘Welcome to the Labyrinth’ An informal talk given at the University of Applied Sciences and Art, Institute of Design in Lucerne, based on the first lecture in the Bright Labyrinth series exploring the digital regime, ‘assemblage critique’ and the concept of design as thought.

TOWARDS A SOCIAL HISTORY OF MACHINES: History and Hardware, The Bright Labyrinth, Lecture Three

THE FUTURE IS WHAT HAPPENS AFTER YOU’RE DEAD: We Connect Marshall McLuhan with Herbert Marcuse, The Bright Labyrinth, Lecture Two

October 08
WELCOME TO THE LABYRINTH: Travels in the Digital Regime, The Bright Labyrinth, Lecture One

January 08
‘Information as Art Form’ Lecture on the use of text, music and video to Fine Art students at Walsall College

Lectures 2007

April 07
‘Conquest of the Universe’
A specially commissioned lecture/presentation on underground film and music in New York during the early years of the 1960s at Kill Your Timid Notion, an annual three-day festival of experimental film and music performances taking place at Dundee Contemporary Arts in Scotland. Lecture held on April 15. A recording of this talk is also broadcast by Resonance FM and is currently also available as a download: to access it click here.

January 07
Lecture Eleven: CAN YOU PASS THE TURING TEST? Gender and Identity in the Digital Age, January 23

Lecture Ten: THE BRIGHT LABYRINTH: Urban Experience in the Real-Time Regime, January 17

Lecture Nine: REQUIEM FOR THE NETWORKS, January 10
(Central St Martins Lecture MACD Critical Context 06-07 series continued)

Lectures 2006

December 06
Lecture Eight: MOVIES WON’T MATTER ANYMORE, December 6
(Central St Martins Lecture MACD Critical Context 06-07 series continued)

November 06
Lecture Seven: GODZILLA HAS LEFT THE BUILDING, November 29

Lecture Six: PRO MOD CULTURE: IN SEARCH OF VON DUTCH, November 22

Lecture Five: WELCOME TO DISTURBIA, November 15

Lecture Four: DURATION, November 8

Lecture Three: ELECTRONIC REVOLUTION, November 1
(Central St Martins Lecture MACD Critical Context 06-07 series continued)

October 06
Lecture Two: TOWARDS A SOCIAL HISTORY OF MACHINES, October 25

Lecture One: THE FUTURE IS BACK, October 18
(Central St Martins Lecture MACD Critical Context 06-07 series)

Lectures 2001

‘But Then I’d Have To Kill You…’
A series of lectures and screenings on the strange connections behind modern conspiracies at The Lux Cinema, London, April-May 2001

Lecture One: King Kill: Kennedy and Beyond
With screenings of Bruce Connor’s Report and John Frankenheimer’s The Manchurian Candidate

Lecture Two: Who Killed the Sick, Sick Sixties?
With screenings of Kenneth Anger’s Invocation of my Demon Brother and Jean-Luc Goddard’s One Plus One (Sympathy For The Devil)

Lecture Three: Secret Chiefs and Perfect Masters
With screenings of Anthony Balch’s Towers Open Fire and Robert Altman’s Secret Honor.

Lecture Four: Space Aliens Run Everything!
With screenings of Craig Baldwin’s Tribulation 99 and Cameron Menzies’ Invaders from Mars.

Note: all four of these lectures were vidoed but the current whereabouts of the discs are unknown.

Lectures 2000

‘The Cosmic Interference Lecture’
A talk on Sun Ra, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Werner Von Braun, presented at the Lux Cinema in London. With screenings of Space is the Place and Derek Jarman’s In The Shadow of the Sun.

Lectures 1998

‘Mad City Monster Love: Japanese Manga from Ground Zero to Total Dispersal’
Lecture delivered at the Ritzy Cinema in Brixton as part of a London Film Festival screening of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Spriggan.

Lectures 1995

‘Criswell Predicts’
Lecture/reading delivered at the CIM Festival, Den Haag, The Netherlands, 1995. For the complete text, click here.