Niall Gallen

• BA English Literature and Creative Writing (University of Gloucestershire)
• MA Literature and Culture (University of Birmingham)

My project focuses on the overlapping tendencies present within the work of artist Eduardo Paolozzi, writer J.G. Ballard, and the aesthetics of accelerationism. Currently I am investigating literary and artistic representations and responses to practices of consumer engineering, the rise of computing, mass-markets, and transnational networks. My aim is to explore the historic causes for changes in aesthetic theories of value during the post-war consensus to relate them to theories and artistic practices surrounding contemporary accelerationism. By doing this, I hope to introduce a new theoretical language to the artwork of the post-war period while also critically assessing the aesthetic landscape surrounding present accelerationism.

My broader research interests include digital cultures, contemporary modernisms and critical theories of cultural production and experimental and transgressive literary practices.

• ‘Accelerationism and Eduardo Paolozzi’ was a tour and talk about the links between Paolozzi’s work and accelerationism at a public exhibition of the artist’s Moonstrips Empire News series at the University of Birmingham on 25.03.19.

• Co-Founder of the Contemporary Theory Reading Group, an interdisciplinary and weekly reading group for works of contemporary theory. We are also hosting a forthcoming event on Mark Fisher’s work from w/c 4^th of May until w/c 8^th of June.
• Committee member of Research/Curate, a network for postgraduate students researching curation, art, or objects within an academic context.