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Mark Pilkington (writer)

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This article is about the English writer. For the Welsh professional golfer, see Mark Pilkington (golfer).

Mark Pilkington
Mark Pilkington (January 2009)
Born26 February 1973
London, England
Occupation(s)Writer, publisher, curator and musician; publisher of Strange Attractor Press
Websitehttp://www.strangeattractor.co.uk

Mark Pilkington (born 26 February 1973) is a writer, publisher, curator and musician with particular interest in the fringes of knowledge, culture and belief.

Career

He has written two books, Mirage Men (2010)[1] and Far Out: 101 Strange Tales from Science's Outer Edge (2007).[2] The latter collects the Far Out science articles Pilkington wrote for The Guardian newspaper between 2003 and 2005.[3]

For Mirage Men (also a soon to be released film)[4] Pilkington and John Lundberg travelled to America in search of the truth behind the UFO enigma. As they spoke to intelligence agents, disinformation specialists and UFO hunters the pair began to suspect that instead of covering-up stories of crashed spacecraft, alien contacts and secret underground bases for the past 60 years, the US intelligence agencies had been promoting them all along, as part of Cold War psychological warfare and counter-intelligence programmes.[5]

Pilkington's writing has also been published in numerous magazines and anthologies, including The Anomalist, Fortean Times, Frieze, Sight & Sound, The Wire, the Time Out Book of London Walks Vol.2 and London Noir[6][7][8][9]

He has broadcast on Resonance FM, both as a guest, hosting Strange Attractor On Air, and DJing for the Kosmische Club.[10][11] He has also given presentations to groups, conventions and festivals including Fortean Times Unconvention, Supersonic Festival, London Lore Conference, Litro and Skeptics in the Pub.[12][13][14][15][16]

Pilkington runs Strange Attractor Press and edits its anthology, Strange Attractor Journal.[17] Other books published by SAP include Medical London by Richard Barnett and Mike Jay, Welcome to Mars by Ken Hollings, Austin Osman Spare by Phil Baker and The Field Guide by Rob Irving and John Lundberg.[18][19][20][21]

As a curator Pilkington has organised events at London venues including the Horse Hospital, the Theosophical Society, Conway Hall and Barnes Wetland Centre. As well as numerous Strange Attractor events from 2001 (initially with John Lundberg) to 2004,[22] he has collaborated on larger projects including Pestival (2006, with Bridget Nicholls) and Megalithomania (2002, with Neil Mortimer of Third Stone Magazine).[23][24] In 2010 Pilkington curated the Strange Attractor Salon at Viktor Wynd Fine Art in London, an exhibition involving over twenty artists and a programme of talks, performance, music and film.[25]

Pilkington has also played electronics and synthesisers with improvising and experimental musical groups including Rucksack, Raagnagrok, Disinformation, Urthona, The Stargazer's Assistant, High Mountain Tempel, The Stëllä Märis Drönë Örchësträ, Yan Gant y Tan, Indigo Octagon and solo as The Asterism. He has appeared on two CDs by High Mountain Tempel, The Glass Bead Game and Pilgrimage to Thunderbolt Pagoda, Circuit Blasting by Strange Attractor vs Disinformation and Murmurations by Urthona and the Asterism.[26][27]

In 2012 he appeared in an episode of the second series of Stargazing Live, a BBC 2 series about astronomy.

References

  1. ^ "Mirage Men - Mark Pilkington". Constable & Robinson. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  2. ^ "Far Out: 101 Strange Tales From Science's Outer Edge (9781932857870): Mark Pilkington: Books". Amazon.com. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  3. ^ "Far out". London: The Guardian. 3 March 2008. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  4. ^ Mirage Men film website
  5. ^ "About the book | Mirage Men". Miragemen.wordpress.com. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  6. ^ "Electricity of the Mind: The Anomalist 14". Anomalistbooks.com. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  7. ^ Pilkington, Mark. "Nikola Tesla | Profiles | Features | Fortean Times UK". Forteantimes.com. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  8. ^ "Frieze Magazine | Archive | Mark Pilkington / Strange Attractor". Frieze.com. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  9. ^ "Adventures in Modern Music: Details". The Wire. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  10. ^ [1] Template:Wayback
  11. ^ "current playlist". Kosmische.org. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  12. ^ "UnCon 2008 — 1–2 November 2008". Forteantimes.com. 2 November 2008. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  13. ^ "Supersonic ) 2008 Archive ) ) Line Up ) Films ) Saturday Program". Supersonicfestival.com. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  14. ^ "London Lore Conference: 25 April". Strange Attractor. 5 March 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  15. ^ Litro Live Ticket (12 July 2010). "Litro Live! Summer Party – 22nd July". litro.co.uk. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  16. ^ "Weapons of Mass Deception - Monday, July 26 at 7:30PM". London.skepticsinthepub.org. 26 July 2010. Retrieved 16 February 2012.
  17. ^ "RCW". Rcwlitagency.com. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  18. ^ https://web.archive.org/20100105160252/http://www.strangeattractor.co.uk:80/medical_london.html. Archived from the original on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2010. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ [2] Template:Wayback
  20. ^ "Austin Osman Spare: Amazon.co.uk: Phil Baker: Books". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  21. ^ "The Field Guide". Strangeattractor.co.uk. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  22. ^ "archive". strange attractor. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  23. ^ "About". Pestival. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  24. ^ "megalithomania!". strange attractor. 12 October 2002. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  25. ^ "Viktor Wynd Fine Art Inc". Viktorwyndfineart.co.uk. 31 January 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  26. ^ "Strange Attractor vs. Disinformation:". Adaadat. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
  27. ^ [3] Template:Wayback
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