Ben Seymour

Ben Seymour's principle areas of research are: 1) the relationship between urban regeneration, gentrification and culture which he has explored in films, articles and visual essays, and 2) the culture and politics of contemporary capitalism from social precariousness and creative economy ideology, to art and financialisation. In addition to teaching, Ben is a writer and deputy editor of Mute magazine.

Professional projects

Ben's films about gentrification, particularly in the London borough of Hackney, have attracted international attention and been screened at The Other Cinema, Edinburgh International Film Festival, Leeds International Festival and galleries, local community screenings and events in UK, Spain, Amsterdam and NYC.

He has been invited to speak on issues from utopian potentialities to the consequences of capital at the Goethe Institute's Serpentine Gallery Sweathshop, Soho Theatre and the Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow among others. In 2003, he co-programmed a screening of three films on gentrification at The Other Gallery in Hackney, where his film 'The London Particular' debuted. 

He has helped establish and coordinate reading groups on Marx's Capital and contemporary capitalism in Hackney and Brooklyn.

Publications and research outputs

Show/Exhibition

Seymour, Benedict. 2005. ‘ASBO as agent’. In: "TOTAL ASBO show", Pogo Cafe,, United Kingdom.

Conference or Workshop Item

Seymour, Benedict. 2010. 'Principio Potosí. Modernidad y la llamada acumulación originaria.'. In: Principio Potosí. Modernidad y la llamada acumulación originaria. Reina Sofia, United Kingdom.

Article

Seymour, Benedict. 2009. Creativity's Rainbow. MUTE MAGAZINE, 2(14), pp. 100-107. ISSN ISSN 1356-7748-214

Seymour, Benedict. 2006. Drowning by Numbers: The Non-Reproduction of New Orleans. Mute,

Seymour, Benedict. 2006. Introduction: Another Green World. Mute, 2(3), pp. 114-119. ISSN 0955066433

Book Section

Seymour, Benedict. 2014. Art and the Utopia of (Non-)Reproduction. In: John Chilver and Brighid Lowe, eds. Manual: Parts and Labour. Osan: Gwak Sang-wook, Osan Culture Foundation, pp. 22-23. ISBN 978-89-968948-2-8

Seymour, Benedict. 2013. Primer. In: David Riff; Ekaterina Degott and Jill Winder, eds. Monday Begins on Saturday. Berlin: Sternberg Press, pp. 123-163. ISBN 978-3-943365-74-0

Seymour, Benedict. 2006. Text and images of regeneration mapping project in Else/where: Mapping — New Cartographies of Networks and Territories. In: Janet Abrams and Peter Hall, eds. Else/where: Mapping — New Cartographies of Networks and Territories. University of Minnesota Press. ISBN 978-0972969628

Edited Book

Seymour, Benedict, ed. 2006. The Class of the New. Mute. ISBN 978-0955066474

Edited Journal

Seymour, Benedict, ed. 2010. Mute Magazine Vol 2 #15, MUTE MAGAZINE, 2(15). 1356-7748-215

Seymour, Benedict, ed. 2007. It's Not Easy Being Green, Mute, 2(5).

Seymour, Benedict, ed. 2007. Man’s Best Friendster?,, Mute, 2(4).

Film/Video

Seymour, Benedict. 2017. Dead the Ends.

Seymour, Benedict and Noel-Tod, Matthew. 2014. Can Dialectics Break Gravity? (2014).

Seymour, Benedict. 2007. The London Particular.