Walking in the footsteps of JG Ballard

To commiserate the passing of JG Ballard, who died last week, I visited Sutton Road multi-storey car park in my hometown Watford:



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=In 1971 JG Ballard used the towns then futuristic parking structures as a location for his short film CRASH!

He referred to Watford as ‘the Mecca of the multi-storey car park’.











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Shot for the BBC two years before his notorious novel of the same name was published, the film followed Ballard as he outlined some of the ideas that would later form the basis of the book (itself adapted for the screen by David Cronenberg in 1996).

When I first saw the short film, specifically the moment I recognised Sutton Road multi-storey car park, it was the second nearest I've ever come to having a religious experience.
















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CRASH! no longer seems to exist on the internet, although I do have a copy on vhs somewhere, which I shall endeavour to locate, digitise, and upload.

Ballard said of Watford's car parks:

'I was quite interested in the gauge of psychoarchitectonics.'

And one can't say fairer than that.


Further reading:
http://www.ballardian.com/crash-full-tilt-autogeddon
http://www.ballardian.com/iain-sinclair-when-in-doubt-quote-ballard


UPDATE

Grebmops uploaded CRASH! two days ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT2eECKvdTc
.