The Situationist International (SI) was a small group of international political and artistic agitators with roots in Marxism, Lettrism and the early 20th century European artistic and political avant-gardes. Formed in 1957, the SI was active in Europe through the 1960s and aspired to major social and political transformations. In the 1960s it split into a number of different groups, including the Situationist Bauhaus, the Antinational and the Second Situationist International. The first SI disbanded in 1972. ^[1] An agitator at a political demonstration in France. ... Marxism is both the theory and the political practice (that is, the praxis) derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ... Lettrism is a French avant-garde movement, established in Paris in the mid-1940s by Romanian immigrant Isidore Isou. ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ... Jørgen Nash identifies the the first manifestation of the second Situationist International after it broke away from the Situationist International as a leaflet signed by himself along with Jacqueline de Jong and Ansgar Elde, shortly after the group Seven Rebels was formed at Bauhaus Situationiste Drakabygget, in 1960 in...

The first issue of the journal Internationale Situationniste defined situationist as: "having to do with the theory or practical activity of constructing situations. One who engages in the construction of situations. A member of the Situationist International".^[2] The same journal defined situationism as "a meaningless term improperly derived from the above. There is no such thing as situationism, which would mean a doctrine of interpretation of existing facts. The notion of situationism is obviously devised by antisituationists."

History

Earlier groups

The SI was formed in 1957 as the fusion of several extremely small artistic tendencies, which claimed to be avant-gardistes: Lettrist International, the International movement for an imaginist Bauhaus (an off-shoot of COBRA), and the London Psychogeographical Association. The Lettrist International (LI) was the first breakaway group from Isidore Isous Lettrist Movement (LM). ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... COBRA (or CoBrA) was a European avant-garde movement active from 1949 to 1952. ... The London Psychogeographical Association (LPA) is a largely fictitious organisation devoted to psychogeography. ...

Already in 1950, the Lettrist International was very active in provoking pranks. At the Easter mass at Notre Dame de Paris, they infiltrated Michel Mourre, who, dressed like a monk, "stood in front of the altar and read a pamphlet proclaiming that God was dead".^[3][4][5] This event became known as the Notre-Dame Affair. The Lettrist International (LI) was the first breakaway group from Isidore Isous Lettrist Movement (LM). ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Wycliffe Tyndale · Luther · Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      Easter, the Sunday of... Notre Dame de Paris: Western Façade For other uses, see Notre Dame. ... St. ... The Notre-Dame Affair (April 9th 1950). ...

Situationist International

The SI was formed at a meeting in the Italian village of Cosio d'Arroscia on 28 July 1957 with the fusion of several extremely small artistic tendencies, which claimed to be avant-gardistes: Lettrist International, the International movement for an imaginist Bauhaus (an off-shoot of COBRA), and the London Psychogeographical Association. The groups came together intending to reawaken the radical political potential of surrealism. The group also later drew ideas from the left communist group Socialisme ou Barbarie. Cosio di Arroscia is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Imperia in the Italian region Liguria, located about 100 km southwest of Genoa and about 25 km northwest of Imperia. ... The Lettrist International (LI) was the first breakaway group from Isidore Isous Lettrist Movement (LM). ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... COBRA (or CoBrA) was a European avant-garde movement active from 1949 to 1952. ... The London Psychogeographical Association (LPA) is a largely fictitious organisation devoted to psychogeography. ... Max Ernst. ... Socialisme ou Barbarie (Socialism or Barbarism) was a French-based radical libertarian socialist group of the post-World War II period (the name comes from a phrase Rosa Luxembourg used in a 1916 essay, The Junius Pamphlet). It existed from 1948 until 1965. ...

Guy Debord.

The most prominent French member of the group, Guy Debord, has tended to polarise opinion. Some describe him as having provided the theoretical clarity within the group; others say that he exercised dictatorial control over its development and membership; yet others believe that he was a powerful writer but a second-rate thinker. Other members included the Dutch painter Constant Nieuwenhuys, the Italo-Scottish writer Alexander Trocchi, the English artist Ralph Rumney (sole member of the London Psychogeographical Society, Rumney suffered expulsion relatively soon after the formation of the Situationist International), the Scandinavian artist Asger Jorn (who after parting with the SI also founded the Scandinavian Institute for Comparative Vandalism), the architect and veteran of the Hungarian Uprising Attila Kotanyi, the French writer Michele Bernstein, and Raoul Vaneigem. Debord and Bernstein later married. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Guy Ernest Debord (December 28, 1931, in Paris – November 30, 1994, in Champot) was a writer, film maker, hypergraphist and founding member of the groups Lettrist International and Situationist International (SI). ... Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys (July 21, 1920 – August 1, 2005) was one of the foremost innovators of Unitary Urbanism. ... Alexander Whitelaw Robertson Trocchi (July 30, 1925 - April 15, 1984) was a Scottish novelist. ... Ralph Rumney (June 5, 1934 - March 6, 2002) artist, born in Newcastle, England. ... The London Psychogeographical Association (LPA) is a largely fictitious organisation devoted to psychogeography. ... Asger Jorn (March 3, 1914 - May 1, 1973) was born in Vejrum, Jutland, Denmark under the name Oluf Jørgensen. ... The Scandinavian Institute of Comparative Vandalism (Danish:Skandinavisk institut for sammenlignende vandalisme) was founded in 1961 by the Danish artist Asger Jorn, Peter Glob and Werner Jacobsen from the National Museum of Denmark and Holger Arbman of the University of Lund, Sweden. ... Combatants Soviet Union; ÁVH (Hungarian State Security Police) Ad hoc local Hungarian militias Commanders Ivan Konev Various independent militia leaders Strength 150,000 troops, 6,000 tanks Unknown number of militia and rebelling soldiers Casualties 722 killed, 1,251 wounded[1] 2,500 killed 13,000 wounded[2] The Hungarian... member of Situationist International, spouse of Guy Debord, not to be confused with Michelle Bernstein - Celebrity Chef. ... Raoul Vaneigem (born 1934) is a Belgian writer and philosopher. ...

Situationist Bauhaus

The Danish brothers Jørgen Nash and Asger Jorn formed the Situationist Bauhaus in 1960, purchasing a farm in southern Sweden. where they continued with various artistic and political activities. Jørgen Nash (March 16, 1920 - May 17, 2004) was a Danish artist, writer and central proponent of situationism. ... Asger Jorn (March 3, 1914 - May 1, 1973) was born in Vejrum, Jutland, Denmark under the name Oluf Jørgensen. ...

Second Situationist International

The SI experienced splits and expulsions from its beginning. The most prominent split in the group, in 1962, resulted in the Paris section retaining the name Situationist International while excluding the German section, who as Gruppe SPUR had merged into the SI in 1959. The excluded group declared themselves The Second Situationist International and based themselves at the Bauhaus in Sweden. The art group SPUR was comprised of the following artists: Lothar Fischer (* 1933; &#8224; 2004) Heimrad Prem (* 1934; &#8224; 1978) H. P. Zimmer (* 1936; &#8224; 1992) Helmut Sturm (* 1932) The SPUR-artists met first at the <<Akademie der Bildenden Künste>> in Munich, Germany. ... Jørgen Nash identifies the the first manifestation of the second Situationist International after it broke away from the Situationist International as a leaflet signed by himself along with Jacqueline de Jong and Ansgar Elde, shortly after the group Seven Rebels was formed at Bauhaus Situationiste Drakabygget, in 1960 in...

While the entire history of the Situationists was marked by their impetus to revolutionize life, the split was characterised by Vaneigem (of the French section), and by many subsequent critics, as marking a transition in the French group from the Situationist view of revolution possibly taking an "artistic" form to an involvement in "political" agitation. Asger Jorn continued to fund both groups with the proceeds of his works of art.

One way or another, the currents which the SI took as predecessors saw their purpose as involving a radical redefinition of the role of art in the twentieth century. The Situationists themselves took a dialectical viewpoint, seeing their task as superseding art, abolishing the notion of art as a separate, specialized activity and transforming it so it became part of the fabric of everyday life. From the Situationist's viewpoint, art is revolutionary or it is nothing. In this way, the Situationists saw their efforts as completing the work of both Dada and surrealism while abolishing both. Still, the Situationists answered the question "What is revolutionary?" differently at different times. In classical philosophy, dialectic (Greek: διαλεκτική) is an exchange of propositions (theses) and counter-propositions (antitheses) resulting in a synthesis of the opposing assertions, or at least a qualitative transformation in the direction of the dialogue. ... For other uses, see Revolution (disambiguation). ... Cover of the first edition of the publication, Dada. ... Max Ernst. ...

May 1968

Main article: May 1968

Those who followed the "artistic" view of the SI might view the evolution of SI as producing a more boring or dogmatic organization. Those following the political view would see the May 1968 uprisings as a logical outcome of the SI's dialectical approach: while savaging present day society, they sought a revolutionary society which would embody the positive tendencies of capitalist development. The "realization and suppression of Art" is simply the most developed of the many dialectical supersessions which the SI sought over the years. For the Situationist International of 1968, the world triumph of workers councils would bring about all these supersessions. A May 1968 poster: Be young and shut up, with stereotypical silhouette of General de Gaulle. ... A May 1968 poster: Be young and shut up, with stereotypical silhouette of General de Gaulle. ... In classical philosophy, dialectic (Greek: διαλεκτική) is an exchange of propositions (theses) and counter-propositions (antitheses) resulting in a synthesis of the opposing assertions, or at least a qualitative transformation in the direction of the dialogue. ...

An important event leading up to May 1968 was the so called Strasbourg scandal. A group of students managed to use public funds to publish the pamphlet On the Poverty of Student Life: considered in its economic, political, psychological, sexual, and particularly intellectual aspects, and a modest proposal for its remedy. The pamphlet circulated in thousands of copies and helped to make the situationists well known throughout the nonstalinist left.

The SI's part in the revolt of 1968 has often been overemphasised. They were a very small group, but were expert self-propagandists, and their slogans appeared daubed on walls throughout Paris at this time. SI member René Viénet's 1968 book Enragés and Situationists in the Occupations Movement, France, May '68 gives an account of the involvement of the SI with the student group of Enragés and the occupation of the Sorbonne. René Viénet is a Situationist writer and filmmaker. ... Les Enragés (literally The Angry Ones) were a radical group active during the French Revolution (1789) opposed to the Jacobins. ... Inscription over the entrance to the Sorbonne The front of the Sorbonne Building The name Sorbonne (La Sorbonne) is commonly used to refer to the historic University of Paris in Paris, France or one of its successor institutions (see below), but this is a recent usage, and Sorbonne has actually...

The occupations of 1968 started at the university of Nanterre and spread to the Sorbonne. The police tried to take back the Sorbonne and a riot ensued. Following this a general strike was declared with up to 10 million workers participating. The SI originally participated in the Sorbonne occupations and defended barricades in the riots. The SI distributed calls for the occupation of factories and the formation of workers’ councils but disillusioned with the students left the university to set up the CMDO (The Council For The Maintenance Of The Occupations) which distributed the SI’s demands on a much wider scale. After the end of the movement, the CMDO disbanded. Nanterre is a French city, a suburb of Paris, and the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine département. ... Occupation of factories is a method of the workers movement used to prevent lock outs. ...

The Situationist Antinational was published for a short while in the 1970s, after the dissolving of the 1SI in 1972. The Situationist Antinational was a magazine formed in 1974, two years after the disbanding of the Situationist International. ...

Influence

Situationist ideas have continued to echo profoundly through many aspects of culture and politics in Europe and the USA. Even in their own time, with limited translations of their dense theoretical texts, combined with their very successful self-mythologisation, the term 'situationist' was often used to refer to any rebel or outsider, rather than to a body of surrealist-inspired Marxist critical theory. As such, the term 'situationist' and those of 'spectacle' and 'detournement' have often been decontextualised and recuperated.

In political terms, in the 1960s and 1970s elements of Situationist critique influenced anarchists and other leftists, with various emphases and interpretations which combine Situationist concepts more or less successfully with a variety of other perspectives. Examples of these groups include: in Amsterdam, the Provos, in the UK King Mob, the producers of Heatwave magazine (who later briefly joined the SI) and the Angry Brigade. In the US, groups like Black Mask (later Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers), The Weathermen and the Rebel Worker group also explicitly employed their ideas. For the Utah town, see Provo, Utah. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Heatwave may refer to: Heat_wave - an unseasonal and potentially destructive period of hot weather Heatwave (magazine), a short-lived 1960s anarchist magazine produced in London by Charles Radcliffe. ... The Angry Brigade were a group of anarchist terrorists responsible for a long string of bomb attacks between 1970 and 1972. ... Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers (often referred to as simply the Motherfuckers, or UAW/MF) was an anarchist affinity group based in New York City. ... John Jacobs and Terry Robbins at the Days of Rage, Chicago, October 1969 (Photo credit: David Fenton; publicity photo for film Weather Underground) Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization, was a U.S. Radical Left organization consisting of splintered-off members and leaders of...

In the 1980s and 90s, Situationist ideas were taken up by 'second wave' anarchists. These theorists, such as Bob Black, Hakim Bey, Fredy Perlman and John Zerzan developed the SI's ideas in various directions, but all attempted to remove the perspectives and proposed practices of the SI from a Marxist theoretical context. These theorists were predominantly associated with the magazines Fifth Estate, Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed and Green Anarchy, in which they developed these perspectives. Some hacker related e-zines, which like samizdat were distributed via email and FTP over early internet links and BBS quoted and developed ideas coming from SI. A few of them were N0 Way, N0 Route, UHF, in France; and early Phrack, CDC in the US. More recently, writers such as Thomas de Zengotita in "Mediated" wrote something which holds the spirit of situationism, describing the society of the "roaring zeroes" (i.e. 2000-). Bob Black is an American anarchist and lawyer. ... Peter Lamborn Wilson is a political writer, poet, and self-described anarchist ontologist. He sometimes writes under the name Hakim Bey (which may mean Mr Judge in Turkish, and which may or may not have been a name-of-convenience used by other radical writers since the 1970s). ... Fredy Perlman (August 20, 1934 -- July 26, 1985) was an author, publisher and activist. ... John Zerzan (born 1943) is an American anarchist and primitivist philosopher and author. ... Fifth Estate (FE) is a periodical published in Liberty, Tennessee and in Detroit, Michigan. ... Anarchy: A Journal of Desire Armed is a North American anarchist magazine. ... Green Anarchy is a magazine published three times a year out of Eugene, Oregon by a collective. ... Thomas de Zengotita (1944 - ) is an author and contributing editor at Harpers Magazine. ...

Most recently, more politically heterogeneous radical groups such as Reclaim the Streets and Adbusters have respectively, seen themselves as 'creating situations' or practicing detournement on advertisements. Reclaim the Streets (RTS) is a collective with a shared ideal of community ownership of public spaces. ... Adbusters is a political magazine, founded by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz that is published in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada by the Media Foundation. ... In detournement, an artist reuses elements of well-known media to create a new work with a different message, often one opposed to the original. ...

In cultural terms, the SI's influence has been even greater, if more diffuse. The list of cultural practices which claim a debt to the SI is almost limitless, but there are some prominent examples:

• Situationist ideas exerted a strong influence on the design language of the early punk rock phenomenon of the 1970s, for example. To a significant extent this came about due to the adoption of the style and aesthetics and sometimes slogans employed by the Situationists (though these latter were often second hand, via English pro-Situs such as King Mob and Jamie Reid). Other musical artists have attempted to more directly include buzzwords from the SI's critical theory into their lyrics, such as Swedish hardcore band Refused, The International Noise Conspiracy and the Welsh rock band The Manic Street Preachers.

• Situationist urban theory, defined initially by the members of the Letterist International as 'Unitary Urbanism', was extensively developed through the behavioural and performance structures of The Workshop for Non-Linear Architecture during the 1990s.

• Situationist practices allegedly continue to influence underground street artists such as gHOSTbOY, Banksy, Borf, and Mudwig, whose artistic interventions and subversive practice can be seen on advertising hoardings, street signs and walls throughout Europe and The United States.

• One can also trace situationist ideas within the development of innumerable other cultural avant-garde threads such as Neoism, Seahorse Liberation Army, The Nation of Ulysses, Libre Society, neo-Dadaists, Mark Divo.

Classic Situationist texts include: On the Poverty of Student Life, Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord, The Revolution of Everyday Life, and The Situationist International Anthology edited by Ken Knabb. The initial English-language text, although poorly and freely translated, was "Leaving The 20th cCentury" edited by Chris Gray. Punk rock is an anti-establishment music movement beginning around 1976 (although precursors can be found several years earlier), exemplified and popularised by The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Refused was a hardcore punk band originating from UmeÃ¥, Sweden. ... The (International) Noise Conspiracy is a punk band from a town in the north of Sweden called Umeå. Dennis Lyxzén (vocals) used to sing for Refused. ... This article needs additional references or sources for verification. ... The Letterist International (LI) was a Paris-based collective of radical artists and theorists between 1952 and 1957, who provide the link between Isidore Isous Letterist group and the Situationist International. ... The Workshop for Non-Linear Architecture (wnla) was the name taken by a group of experimental artists and psychogeographers active in Britain (sections existed in both Glasgow and London) during the early 1990s. ... Banksy is a well-known yet pseudo-anonymous[1] English graffiti artist, possibly named Robert Banks. ... Street action at the 6th Neoist Apartment Festival in Montreal, 1983 Neoism refers both to a specific subcultural network of artistic performance and media experimentalists and more generally to a practical underground philosophy. ... Nation of Ulysses was a post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C.. The band formed in spring 1988, with four members and known as simply Ulysses, drawing inspiration from MC5s mix of revolutionary rhetoric and rock music. ... The Libre Society is a radical artistic and cultural movement that is committed to releasing free/libre/open-source art, music and literature. ... Mark Divo born 1966 in Luxemburg. ... The Society of the Spectacle is a 1967 book by Guy Debord, which developed concepts relating to modern culture and commodity fetishism. ... The Revolution of Everyday Life is a 1967 book by Raoul Vaneigem, Belgian author, philosopher and former member of the Situationist International (1961-1970). ...

As many of the original Situationist texts tend to be carefully written, some people have found them dense and inaccessible. However, during the early 1980s English Anarchist Larry Law produced a series of 'pocket-books' under the name of Spectacular Times which aimed to make Situationist ideas more easily assimilated into popularist anarchism. Some people, however, feel that Law significantly reduced their cohesiveness by this process.^{[attribution needed]} Anarchism is a generic term describing various political philosophies and social movements that advocate the elimination of hierarchy and imposed authority. ... The subject of this article may not satisfy the notability guideline or one of the following guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines. ... Populism is a political ideology or rhetorical style that holds that the common person is oppressed by the elite in society, which exists only to serve its own interests, and therefore, the instruments of the State need to be grasped from this self-serving elite and instead used for the...

Contemporary

Contemporary Situationist praxis is split between pro-situs, situlogists and psychogeographers. Situlogy is the transformative morphology of the unique ↑  as devised by Asger Jorn. ... Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as the the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals. ...

Criticism

Critics of the Situationists frequently assert that their ideas are not in fact complex and difficult to understand, but are at best simple ideas expressed in deliberately difficult language, and at worst actually nonsensical. For example anarchist Chaz Bufe asserts that "obscure situationist jargon" is a major problem in the anarchist scene.^[6] Chaz Bufe is a contemporary left-wing author who writes most notably on the problems the modern anarchist movement is experiencing (as in his pamphlet Listen, Anarchist!), though is also widely known for his quotes (mostly from a book he collaborated on called The Devils Dictionary). ...

Key ideas in Situationist theory

Ideas central to Situationist theory include:

• Situgraphy and Situgraphology: Drawing from the artistic Lettrist praxis of hypergraphy as well as older developments in mathematics and topology in Henri Poincare's Analysis Situs , the main theorist of the SI Asger Jorn formulated theories of plastic, anti-Euclidean geometry and topology which was at the heart of Situationist critiques of urbanism and other manifestations of contemporary capitalist culture and politics.

• The Situation: this concept, central to the SI, was defined in the first issue of their journal as "A moment of life concretely and deliberately constructed by the collective organization of a unitary ambiance and a game of events." As the SI embraced dialectical Marxism, the situation came to refer less to a specific avant-garde practice than to the dialectical unification of art and life more generally. Beyond this theoretical definition, the situation as a practical manifestation thus slipped between a series of proposals. The SI thus were first led to distinguish the situation from the mere artistic practice of the beat happening, and later identified it in historical events such as the Paris Commune or the Watts riots, and eventually not with partial insurrections, but with total revolution itself. SEE ALSO Situlogy

• The Spectacle: Debord's 1968 book The Society of the Spectacle attempted to provide the SI with a Marxian critical theory. The concept of 'the spectacle' expanded to all society the Marxist concept of reification drawn from the first section of Marx's Capital, entitled The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret thereof and developed by Georg Lukács. This was an analysis of the logic of commodities whereby they achieve an ideological autonomy from the process of their production, so that “social action takes the form of the action of objects, which rule the producers instead of being ruled by them.” (Marx, Capital) Developing this analysis of the logic of the commodity, The Society of the Spectacle generally understood society as divided between the passive subject who consumes the spectacle and the reified spectacle itself.

• Unitary urbanism: "Unitary urbanism is one of the central concerns of the SI" (Internationale Situationniste #3, December 1959). This was originally developed by the Lettrist International and the International Movement For An Imaginist Bauhaus, and then taken up by the SI. This development marked a move away from metagraphy and towards the use of Dérive and psychogeography and also situgraphy. Following expulsions and the move towards the theory of the spectacle, UU became a lesser concern for the SI in later years. See separate articles on Unitary urbanism, Dérive, and psychogeography.

• Recuperation: "To survive, the spectacle must have social control. It can recuperate a potentially threatening situation by shifting ground, creating dazzling alternatives- or by embracing the threat, making it safe and then selling it back to us" -- Larry Law, from The Spectacle- The Skeleton Keys, a 'Spectacular Times pocket book.

• Detournement: "short for: detournement of pre-existing aesthetic elements. The integration of past or present artistic production into a superior construction of a milieu. In this sense there can be no Situationist painting or music, but only a Situationist use of these means.", Internationale Situationiste Issue 1, June 1958.

One could view detournement as forming the opposite side of the coin to 'recuperation' (where radical ideas and images become safe and commodified), in that images produced by the spectacle get altered and subverted so that rather than supporting the status quo, their meaning becomes changed in order to put across a more radical or oppositionist message.

The concept of detournement has had a popular influence amongst contemporary radicals, and the technique can be seen in action in the present day when looking at the work of Culture Jammers including Adbusters 1, whose 'subvertisements' 'detourn' Nike adverts, for example. In this case the original advertisement's imagery is altered in order to draw attention to said company's policy of shifting their production base to cheap-labour third-world 'free trade zones'. However, the line between 'recuperation' and 'detournement' can become thin (or at least very fuzzy) at times, as Naomi Klein points out in her book No Logo. Here she details how corporations such as Nike, Pepsi or Diesel have approached Culture Jammers and Adbusters (sometimes successfully) and offered them lucrative contracts in return for partaking in 'ironic' promotional campaigns. She points out further irony by drawing attention to merchandising produced in order to promote Adbusters' Buy Nothing day, an example of the recuperation of detournement (or of culture eating itself) if ever there was one. Klein's arguments about irony reifying rather than breaking down power structures is echoed by Slavoj Zizek. Zizek argues that the kind of distance opened up by detournement is the condition of possibility for ideology to operate: by attacking and distancing oneself from the sign-systems of capital, the subject creates a fantasy of transgression that "covers up" his/her actual complicity with capitalism as an overarching system. In contrast, evoLhypergrapHyCx are very fond of pointing out the differences between hypergraphics, 'detournement', the postmodern idea of appropriation and the Neoist use of plagiarism as the use of different and similar techniques used for different and similar means, effects and causes.

Lettrism is an artistic style which was created in Romania by Isidore Isou in 1942, when he was only sixteen years old, according to Jean-Paul Curtay in La Poesie Lettriste (Paris 1974). ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Henri Poincaré, photograph from the frontispiece of the 1913 edition of Last Thoughts Jules Henri Poincaré (April 29, 1854 &#8211; July 17, 1912) was one of Frances greatest mathematicians, theoretical scientists and a philosopher of science. ... This is a list of important publications in mathematics, organized by field. ... A happening is a performance, event or situation meant to be considered as art. ... Le Père Duchesne looking at the statue of Napoleon I on top of the Vendome column: Eh ben ! bougre de canaille, on va donc te foutre en bas comme ta crapule de neveu !… (Well now! buggering rascal, we will knock you the fuck off just like your crook of... The term Watts Riots refers to a large-scale riot which lasted six days in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in August 1965. ... Situlogy is the transformative morphology of the unique ↑  as devised by Asger Jorn. ... In Situationist theory, the notion of the spectacle and the spectacular society have a significant place. ... Marx is a common German surname. ... Georg Lukács (April 13, 1885 – June 4, 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher and literary critic in the tradition of Western Marxism. ... Unitary Urbanism, or UU, was the critique of status quo urbanism employed by the Lettrist International and then further developed by the Situationist International between approximately 1953 and 1960. ... The Lettrist International (LI) was the first breakaway group from Isidore Isous Lettrist Movement (LM). ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Metagraphics or post-writing, encompassing all the means of ideographic, lexical and phonetic notation, supplements the means of expression based on sound by adding a specifically plastic dimension, a visual facet which is irreducible and escapes oral labelling. ... Critical praxis developed by the Lettrist International as part of the situationist critique of capitalism and unitary urbanism as a critique of urbanism. ... Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as the the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals. ... Unitary Urbanism, or UU, was the critique of status quo urbanism employed by the Lettrist International and then further developed by the Situationist International between approximately 1953 and 1960. ... Critical praxis developed by the Lettrist International as part of the situationist critique of capitalism and unitary urbanism as a critique of urbanism. ... Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as the the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals. ... Recuperation, in the sociological sense (first proposed by Guy Debord and the Situationist movement), is the process by which radical ideas and images are commodified and incorporated within mainstream society, such as the movement for civil rights in the United States or the push for womens rights. ... In detournement, an artist reuses elements of well-known media to create a new work with a different message, often one opposed to the original. ... Culture jamming, or sniggling, is the act of using existing mass media to comment on those very media themselves, using the original mediums communication method. ... Adbusters is a political magazine, founded by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz that is published in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada by the Media Foundation. ... Nike, Inc. ... A free trade zone (FTZ) or Export processing zone (EPZ) is one or more areas of a country where tariffs and quotas are eliminated and bureaucratic requirements are lowered in hopes of attracting new business and foreign investments. ... Naomi Klein (born May 5, 1970 [1]) is a Canadian journalist, author and activist. ... No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies is a book by Canadian journalist Naomi Klein. ... For other uses, see Corporation (disambiguation). ... Pepsi Cola is a cola soft drink produced and manufactured by PepsiCo. ... Buy Nothing Day demonstration, San Francisco, November 2000 Buy Nothing Day is an informal day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists. ... Slavoj &#381;i&#382;ek. ... This article is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century... Appropriation is the act of taking possession of or assigning purpose to properties or ideas and is important in many topics, including: Appropriation (sociology) in relation to the spread of knowledge Appropriation (art) Appropriation (visual art) [1] Appropriation (music) in reference to the re-use and proliferation of different types... Street action at the 6th Neoist Apartment Festival in Montreal, 1983 Neoism refers both to a specific subcultural network of artistic performance and media experimentalists and more generally to a practical underground philosophy. ... Plagiarism (from Latin plagiare to kidnap) is the practice of claiming, or implying, original authorship or incorporating material from someone elses written or creative work, in whole or in part, into ones own without adequate acknowledgement. ...

Quotations

• "Live without dead time" - Vivez sans temps mort - Anonymous graffiti, Paris 1968
• "I take my desires for reality because I believe in the reality of my desires" - Anonymous graffiti, Paris 1968
• "What beautiful and priceless potlatches the affluent society will see -- whether it likes it or not! -- when the exuberance of the younger generation discovers the pure gift; a growing passion for stealing books, clothes, food, weapons or jewelry simply for the pleasure of giving them away"- Raoul Vaneigem, The Revolution Of Everyday Life
• "Be realistic - demand the impossible!" - Soyez réalistes, demandez l'impossible! - Anonymous graffiti, Paris 1968
• "Beneath the paving stones - the beach!" - Sous les pavés, la plage! - Anonymous graffiti, Paris 1968
• "Never work" - Ne travaillez jamais" - Anonymous graffiti, rue de Seine Paris 1952
• "Down with a world in which the guarantee that we will not die of starvation has been purchased with the guarantee that we will die of boredom." - Raoul Vaneigem, The Revolution Of Everyday Life

• "People who talk about revolution and class struggle without referring explicitly to everyday life, without understanding what is subversive about love and what is positive in the refusal of constraints, such people have a corpse in their mouth"- Raoul Vaneigem, The Revolution Of Everyday Life

A May 1968 poster: Be young and shut up, with the stereotypical silhouette of the General de Gaulle. ... The Kwakwakawakw continue the practice of potlatch. ... Raoul Vaneigem (born 1934) is a Belgian writer and philosopher. ... The Revolution of Everyday Life is a 1967 book by Raoul Vaneigem, Belgian author, philosopher and former member of the Situationist International (1961-1970). ... Raoul Vaneigem (born 1934) is a Belgian writer and philosopher. ... Raoul Vaneigem (born 1934) is a Belgian writer and philosopher. ...

Bibliography

SI writings

Twelve issues of the journal Internationale Situationniste were published. they were edited (at different times) byGuy Debord, Mohamed Dahoiu, Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio, Maurice Wyckaert,Constant, Asger Jorn, Hlemout Sturm, Attila Kotanyi, Jørgen Nash, Uwe Lausen, Raoul Vaneigem, Michèle Bernstein, Jeppesen Victor Martin, Jan Stijbosch, Alexander Trocchi, Théo Frey, Mustapha Khayati, Donald Nicholson-Smith, René Riesel and René Viénet. Guy Ernest Debord (December 28, 1931, in Paris – November 30, 1994, in Champot) was a writer, film maker, hypergraphist and founding member of the groups Lettrist International and Situationist International (SI). ... Giuseppe Pinot Gallizio (Born 1902 in Alba, Died 1964 in Alba) was the formulator of Industrial Painting. ... In mathematics and the mathematical sciences, a constant is a fixed, but possibly unspecified, value. ... Asger Jorn (March 3, 1914 - May 1, 1973) was born in Vejrum, Jutland, Denmark under the name Oluf Jørgensen. ... Jørgen Nash (March 16, 1920 - May 17, 2004) was a Danish artist, writer and central proponent of situationism. ... Raoul Vaneigem (born 1934) is a Belgian writer and philosopher. ... The cover of her book Tous les chevaux du roi Michèle Bernstein is a French novelist and critic, most usually remembered as a member of the Situationist International from its foundation in 1957 until 1967, and as the wife of its most prominent member, Guy Debord. ... Alexander Whitelaw Robertson Trocchi (July 30, 1925 - April 15, 1984) was a Scottish novelist. ... René Viénet is a Situationist writer and filmmaker. ...

• Translations of all twelve issues can be found here.
• Situationist International Anthology, ed. Ken Knabb
• Situationist International Online Archive

Writings on the SI

• Home, Stewart The Assault on Culture: Utopian currents from Lettrisme to Class War (Aporia Press and Unpopular Books, London, 1988) ISBN 0-948518-88-X
• Greil Marcus Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century (Harvard University Press, 1990) ISBN 0-674-53581-2
• Plant, Sadie The Most Radical Gesture: The Situationist International in a Postmodern Age (Routledge, 1992) ISBN 0-415-06222-5

• Simon Ford The Situationist International: A User's Guide (Black Dog, London, 2004) ISBN 1-904772-05-6
• Slater, Howard "Divided We Stand: An Outline of Scandinavian Situationism" [1]
• Black, Bob The Realization and Suppression of Situationism
• Simon Sadler The Situationist City (MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 1998) ISBN 0-262-69225-2 [2]
• Vachon, Marc L’arpenteur de la ville: L’utopie situationniste et Patrick Straram (Les Éditions Triptyque, Montreal, 2003) ISBN 2-89031-476-6 [3]
• "The Situationist international (1957-1972) In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni" (JRP Ringier, Zurich, 2007) ISBN 3905770148

Stewart Home (born 1962) is a writer, subcultural pamphleteer, underground art historian, and activist. ... Greil Marcus (2006) Greil Marcus (born 1945) is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. ... Dr. Sadie Plant (b. ... Simon Ford (born 17 November 1981) is a English professional footballer currently playing for Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premier League. ... Bob Black is an American anarchist and lawyer. ... Simon Sadler (British, b. ...

Notes

1. ^ http://www.barbelith.com/cgi-bin/articles/00000011.shtml
2. ^ http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/si/definitions.html
3. ^ http://www.snarkout.org/archives/2002/11/24/
4. ^ http://www.mirorenzaglia.com/index.php?itemid=8
5. ^ http://www.mirorenzaglia.com/index.php?itemid=311
6. ^ http://www.seesharppress.com/listen.html

See also

• Anarchism
• Autonomism
• Dada
• Members of the Situationist International
• Lettrist International
• King Mob
• Black Mask
• Libertarian Communism
• Libre Society
• Alternative society
• Diggers (theater)
• Fluxus
• Social criticism
• Surrealism
• Provo
• Psychogeography
• Épater la bourgeoisie
• The Workshop for Non-linear Architecture

Anarchism is a political philosophy or group of philosophies and attitudes which reject any form of compulsory government[1] and support its elimination,[2] often because of a wider rejection of involuntary authority. ... Raised fist, stenciled protest symbol of Autonome at the Ernst-Kirchweger-Haus in Vienna, Austria Autonomism refers to a set of left-wing political and social movements and theories close to the socialist movement. ... Cover of the first edition of the publication, Dada. ... The members of the Situationist International were: Algerian Section (2) Mohamed Dahou Abdelhafid Khatib American Section (4) Robert Chasse Bruce Elwell Jan Horelick Tony Verlaan Belgian Section (6) Walter Korun Attila Kotanyi Rudi Renson Jan Stijbosch Raoul Vaneigem Maurice Wyckaert Dutch Section (5) Anton Alberts Armando Constant Jacqueline de Jong... The Lettrist International (LI) was the first breakaway group from Isidore Isous Lettrist Movement (LM). ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... The New York Surrealist Group and the American Anarchist group provided the basis for Black Mask, a radical artistic/political group who produced some ten issues of a powerful broadsheet and a number of politico-artistic demonstrations, like attempting to close down the Museum of Modern Art. ... Anarcho-Communism, or Libertarian Communism, is a political ideology related to Libertarian socialism. ... The Libre Society is a radical artistic and cultural movement that is committed to releasing free/libre/open-source art, music and literature. ... The phrase alternative society may have been in usage since the 19th century when Karl Marx and Proudhon represented two factions for alternative visions of social change. ... The Diggers was a radical community-action and guerrilla-theater group from 1966-68, based in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco. ... Fluxus – a name taken from a Latin word meaning to flow – is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. ... A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole and typically on a radical basis; a social critic of a given society, but the overlap is large. ... Max Ernst. ... Provo was a Dutch counterculture movement in the mid-1960s that focused on provoking violent responses from authorities using non-violent bait. ... Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as the the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals. ... Epater la bourgeoisie or épater le bourgeois is a French phrase that became a rallying cry for the French Decadent poets of the late 19th century including Baudelaire and Rimbaud. ... The Workshop for Non-Linear Architecture (wnla) was the name taken by a group of experimental artists and psychogeographers active in Britain (sections existed in both Glasgow and London) during the early 1990s. ...

Activities or publications that share Situationist ideas

See also - Anarchism and the arts Anarchism has long had an association with the arts, particularly in music and literature. ...

• Not Bored! - situationist publication in New York City (http://www.notbored.org)
• Pygmalion Books - non-profit publishing house and creators of the NCISBN (http://www.pygmalionbooks.org)
• CrimethInc - creators of anarchist publications (http://www.crimethinc.com)
• Adbusters - current anti-consumerist magazine (http://www.adbusters.org)
• Autonomedia - non-profit publishers of much situationist influenced thought
• Semiotext(e) - publishing company founded by Sylvère Lotringer, inspired by Paris '68, the SI, and post-structuralism

CrimethInc. ... Adbusters is a political magazine, founded by Kalle Lasn and Bill Schmalz that is published in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada by the Media Foundation. ... Autonomedia is one of the main North American publishers of radical theoretical works, especially in the anarchist and ultra-left marxist tradition. ... Semiotext(e) is an American independent publisher. ...

External links

• Nothingness.org
• Situationist International Online
• The Situationist International Text Library
• Libcom.org/library: Situationist International archive
• Dionysus Unemployed
• Spectacular Times
• Bureau of Public Secrets
• Against Sleep And Nightmare Magazine
• The Realization and Suppression of Situationism by Bob Black
• "Situationism in a nutshell", Barbelith Webzine, June 1, 2001. Retrieved on April 2006. 
• The Laboratory of Insurrectionary Imagination
• Situationists and Critical Mass
• Works catalog