John Scanlan – författare

The Idea of Waste starts with the premise that waste is inevitable in human society. It explores how we have grappled with both the material reality and the spectre of this shape-shifting phenomenon throughout history – utilizing it, dreaming of overcoming it, yet never escaping it. John Scanlan investigates what waste is and why it seems to be intrinsic to human life, at every turn, in every age and epoch. He demonstrates how waste never disappears completely but rather only proliferates anew. The compelling narrative shows waste to be both an enduring material consequence of human activity and an idea or state of being.

The appearance of the Sex Pistols in 1976 seemed less like the arrival of a band than a warning from a nightmarish future. Sex Pistols: Poison in the Machine examines the group’s explosive impact by placing Malcolm McLaren’s audacious, self-sabotaging art project at its centre – a scheme forged from radical politics, cultural fatigue and a genius for provocation. John Scanlan traces how this volatile experiment collided with the Pistols’ own musical force and John Lydon’s uncompromising originality, reshaping its purpose and accelerating the band’s implosion. Moving between London and New York, Scanlan reveals the personalities, pressures and accidents that gave punk its charge and altered popular culture far beyond its brief, chaotic lifespan.