Situationist International

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The Situationist International in Cosio d'Arroscia, Italy, April 1957. From left to right: Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio, Piero Simondo, Elena Verrone, Michèle Bernstein, Guy Debord, Asger Jorn, and Walter Olmo. [1] [2]
The Situationist International at the Institute for Contemporary Art, London, 1960. Standing, from left to right: Maurice Wyckaert, Asger Jorn, Jacqueline de Jong, Hans Peter Zimmer, Heimrad Prem, Helmut Sturm, Katja Lindell, and Jørgen Nash. Sitting, from left to right: Attila Kotányi, Guy Atkins, and Lawrence Alloway. Declaration. [3]
Internationale situationniste 1, Jun 1958, Log.

Founded in July 1957, the Situationist International brought together currents of experimental poetry, avant-garde art, and radical social criticism to explore new techniques of engagement in cultural protest and revolutionary praxis. Although the organization itself remained small and disbanded in 1972, the SI shaped the interaction of art and politics at crucial moments in the evolution of postwar culture, including the transnational uprisings of 1968 and 1977. Its influence continues to be felt today. (Source)

Chronology[edit]

Based on an appendix to James Trier's book Guy Debord, the Situationist International, and the Revolutionary Spirit, 2019. For a more detailed chronology, see Situationist International Online.

1951
  • In April, Guy Debord meets Lettrist leader Isidore Isou and several other Lettrists at the Cannes Film Festival.
  • In the summer, Debord graduates from high school in Cannes, moves to Paris, and joins Isou and the Lettrists.
  • Throughout 1951, Debord spends much of his time at his favorite bar, Chez Moineau, where he meets several people who would become important to him during that time, including Gil J Wolman, Michèle Bernstein, Ivan Chtcheglov, Eliane Papai, and Jean-Michel Mension.
1952
1953
  • In early 1953, Debord artistically manifests the LI's contempt for wage slavery when he scrawls "Ne Travaillez Jamais!" [Never Work!] on a wall on the rue de Seine.
  • In October, Chtcheglov presents Debord with his poetic manifesto, "Formulary for a New Urbanism."
1954
  • In June, the LI publishes the first issue of Potlatch, which will continue to be published semi-regularly through much of 1957, when the Situationist International is formed.
  • In June, Chtcheglov is excluded from the LI after he is arrested for destroying a bar during a drunken rage and is committed to a psychiatric institution, where he remained for several years.
  • In June, the LI contributes an article about psychogeography and the dérive to the journal La Carte d'Apres Nature, published by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte.
  • In August, Debord and Bernstein marry in Paris.
  • By December, fifteen issues of Potlatch have been published.
1955
  • In early 1955, Danish artist Asger Jorn (1914-1973), founder of the avant-garde group the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus (IMIB) in 1953, contacts Debord after a friend gives him a copy of Potlatch.
  • In September, Debord's article about psychogeography, titled "Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography," is published in Belgian surrealist Marcel Marien's journal Les Lèvres Nues [The Naked Lips].
  • By December, issues 16–24 of Potlatch have been published.
1956
  • In May, Debord and Wolman publish "Method of Détournement" in Les Lèvres Nues.
  • In September, Jorn and fellow IMIB member and artist Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio (1902–1964), hold the First World Congress of Free Artists in Alba, Italy. The congress draws a dozen artists from eight countries. Gil Wolman is the sole representative for the Lettrist International.
  • In November, Debord publishes "Theory of the Dérive" in Les Levres Nues.
  • By December, issues 25–27 of Potlatch have been published.
1957
1958
  • On 25-26 January, the SI's second conference is held in a bar in Paris; the main decision made is to exclude SI founding members Simondo, Olmo, and Verrone.
  • In mid-April, the SI perpetrates its "Battle of Brussels" intervention of the International Assembly of Art Critics conference at the Brussels World's Fair, also called Expo '58.
  • On May 30, the first exhibition of Pinot-Gallizio's industrial painting takes place at Gallery Notizie in Turin, Italy.
  • In June, the first issue of Internationale Situationniste is published, which includes Chtcheglov's 1953 "Formulary for a New Urbanism," as well as a note on the exclusion of Ralph Rumney.
  • In the fall, Jorn exhibits paintings at a gallery in Munich, where he meets the artists of the SPUR group: Lothar Fischer, Heimrad Prem, Helmut Sturm, and Hans Peter Zimmer.
  • Also in the fall, Debord visits Constant Nieuwenhuys in Amsterdam and encourages him to become more active in the SI; they collaborate on "The Amsterdam Declaration."
  • In November, Debord détourns the event "Is Surrealism Dead or Alive?" by delivering his insulting critique of surrealism via a tape-recording.
  • In December, Debord publishes issue two of Internationale Situationniste.
1959
1960
  • Early 1960, Debord meets Henri Lefebvre.
  • In March, Debord pulls out of the SI's The World as Labyrinth exhibit at the Stedelijk Museum.
  • In late May, Debord excludes founding SI member Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio.
  • In June, Constant resigns from the SI after disputes with Debord over the latter's exclusions of two fellow Dutch members.
  • In the summer, Jorn recruits his brother Jørgen Nash, his lover Jacqueline de Jong, and a group of Scandinavian artists into the SI.
  • Debord also recruits new members into the SI, including Attila Kotányi.
  • In June, Debord publishes the fourth issue of Internationale Situationniste.
  • In July, Debord publishes the tract "Preliminaries Toward Defining a Unitary Revolutionary Program," co-authored by Daniel Blanchard, who was a member of the leftist group Socialism or Barbarism.
  • In the fall, Debord becomes a dues-paying member of Socialism or Barbarism.
  • In August, Bernstein's détournement novel Tous les chevaux du roi [All the King's Horses] is published by the prestigious publishing house Buchet-Chastel.
  • From September 24–28, the SI's fourth conference is held, when nine members representing the French, Belgian, German, and Scandinavian sections convene in London.
  • In October, Debord and Bernstein sign the Manifesto of the 121.
  • In December, Debord publishes the fifth issue of Internationale Situationniste.
1961
  • In early 1961, Debord invites Raoul Vaneigem to join the SI.
  • In early spring, Debord films and edits his third film, Critique de la séparation [Critique of Separation].
  • In April, Asger Jorn resigns from the SI but continues to financially support the group and occasionally contributes articles under the pseudonym George Keller. Jorn and Debord remain friends until Jorn's death in 1973.
  • In April, Debord resigns from the Socialism or Barbarism group.
  • In May, Debord's tape-recorded lecture titled "Perspectives for Conscious Changes in Everyday Life" is played at an academic conference organised by Henri Lefebvre; Debord does not appear at the conference.
  • In August, Debord publishes the sixth issue of Internationale Situationniste.
  • In late August, the SI's infamous fifth conference takes place in Gothenburg, Sweden. Tensions erupt into arguments between the artists aligned with Jørgen Nash and the members aligned with Debord.
  • After the Gothenburg conference, Debord, Vaneigem, and Kotányi stop in Hamburg, where they produce "The Hamburg Theses."
  • In September of 1961, Bernstein publishes her second détournement novel, La Nuit [The Night].
  • In November, the SPUR artists get into legal trouble with Munich authorities because of the "pornographic" nature of an issue of their journal.
1962
  • On 10-11 February, the SI's Central Council meets in Paris; Debord, Vaneigem, Kotanyi and others exclude the SPUR artists.
  • The SPUR artists' exclusion precipitates the resignations of Nash, de Jong, and the rest of the Scandinavian artists in March, marking the end of the SI's first phase.
  • In April, Debord publishes issue seven of Internationale Situationniste; it includes part one of Raoul Vaneigem's important article "Basic Banalities" (part two appears in issue eight).
  • In the summer, Nash, de Jong, and several other Scandinavian artists officially announce the formation of the Second Situationist International.
  • In November, the SI holds its sixth conference in Antwerp.
1963
  • In January, Debord publishes issue eight of Internationale Situationniste.
  • Early in 1963, Debord meets Alice Becker-Ho; they begin living together shortly after. For a time, Bernstein continues on as an SI member.
  • In the spring, the SI accepts René Viénet into the group.
  • In March, Debord and Bernstein meet with a Japanese radical student group named Zengakuren.
  • In June, the SI's Destruction RSG-6 manifestation opens at the EXI Gallery in Odense, Denmark.
  • In December, Attila Kotányi is excluded from the SI.
1964
1965
  • In January, Martin, based in Denmark, is charged with "crimes against morality and good custom," and "injury to the Danish Royalty" because he distributed pamphlets that included the Christine Keeler détourned photo.
  • In March, Martin leads protestors against the military exercises to be held in Randers, Denmark.
  • In March, Martin's house is firebombed—nobody was injured.
  • In March, Khayati and several other Strasbourg students interrupt a conference featuring Professor Abraham Moles on the University of Strasbourg campus.
  • In the fall, Debord and Khayati co-author an article titled "Address to Revolutionaries in Algeria and All Countries" that discusses the recent coup d'etat in Algeria in June.
  • In the fall, Debord publishes "The Decline and Fall of the Spectacle-Commodity Economy" about the Watts Rebellion of South Los Angeles that erupted during the week of 11-16 August.
  • In the fall, Donald Nicholson-Smith and TJ Clark contact Debord and become the first two members of an English section of the SI.
1966
  • In March, Debord publishes issue ten of Internationale Situationniste.
  • On 9-11 July, the SI holds its seventh conference in Paris. Attendees include Strasbourg students Jean Garnault, Theo Frey, Edith Frey, and Herbert Holl, who are eventually admitted to the SI based on the action taken against Moles.
  • In the fall, Chris Gray and Charles Radcliffe, who publish a journal in England titled Heatwave, are accepted into the SI's English section.
  • In May, André Schneider and Bruno Vayr Piova are elected as president and vice-president of the student union at the University of Strasbourg. They contact Debord during the summer, stating that they wish to dismantle the student union and protest patriarchal authority on campus. Debord orchestrates an intervention.
  • On 26 October 1966, Khayati and other students disrupt a public speech by Abraham Moles.
  • Also on 26 October, thousands of copies of André Bertrand's comic strip The Return of the Durutti Column are distributed across Strasbourg's campus.
  • On 22 November, ten-thousand copies of Mustafa Khayati's On the Poverty of Student Life (paid for by depleting all of the student union's funds) are distributed on Strasbourg's campus.
  • By the end of the fall semester, protesting students at Strasbourg shut down the campus, student leaders are charged with disrupting campus life, and the media write about the shadowy influence of the Situationist International in fulminating the protests.
1967
  • In January, the four recently-admitted Strasbourg students, pejoratively dubbed by Debord as "The Garnaultians," are excluded from the SI.
  • In March, Debord sends Tony Verlaan to the US to seek out radicals who share the SI's ideas about revolution.
  • In the summer, members of two radical left student groups from Nanterre University contact Debord to express their interest in collaborating with the SI to foster protests at Nanterre over the partriarchal and authoritarian policies of Nanterre's administration.
  • In the fall, the students distribute copies of De la misère en milieu étudiant [On the Poverty of Student Life] and The Return of the Durutti Column on Nanterre's campus.
  • Throughout the fall semester, a series of student protests take place on Nanterre's campus.
  • In October, Debord publishes issue eleven of Internationale Situationniste.
  • In late fall, Michèle Bernstein resigns from the SI.
  • In November, Debord's book La Société du Spectacle [The Society of the Spectacle] is published.
  • In November, Vaneigem travels to New York and meets Bruce Elwell and Robert Chasse, two Americans who eventually become members of the American section of the SI with Tony Verlaan.
  • During the trip, Vaneigem is repulsed by the "mystics" Ben Morea and Allan Hoffman of the group Black Mask; for the SI, Morea and Hoffman become immediate enemies.
  • In December, Vaneigem's Traité de savoir-vivre à l'usage des jeunes générations [The Revolution of Everyday Life] is published.
  • In December, Debord excludes members of the SI's English section for their continued contact with Morea.
1968
  • In January, Nanterre student Daniel Cohn-Bendit becomes a main target of Dean Grappin for his activist actions throughout the fall semester of 1967.
  • Dean Grappin also disciplines future SI members René Riesel and Patrick Cheval, who call themselves the Enragés.
  • The Enragés contact Debord, who agrees to collaborate on future interventions at Nanterre.
  • On 22 March, hundreds of students occupy Nanterre University's administrative building, causing Dean Grappin to shut down the university.
  • Cohn-Bendit becomes the "media star" spokesperson of the 22 March Movement.
  • Cohn-Bendit, René Riesel, and other Nanterre students are subject to disciplinary actions and become known as the "Nanterre 8."
  • On 6 May, the disciplinary actions against the Nanterre 8, held at the Sorbonne, are disrupted when police violently clash with and arrest hundreds of protesting students.
  • On 10 May, over twenty thousand people—among them are Debord, Riesel, and other SI members and Enragés—gather in the Latin Quarter to demonstrate the police presence at the Sorbonne.
  • On 14 May, hundreds of people, mostly students, occupy the Sorbonne; among them are the Enragés, Debord, and other SI members.
  • Riesel is among those elected to the Occupation Committee at the Sorbonne.
  • On 14 May, workers at the Sud-Aviation factory in Nantes (just outside of Paris) occupy their plant and lock the director and all managers in their offices.
  • From 14-17 May, several more factories are occupied by workers, causing Riesel to call for student marches to the factories to support the workers.
  • The Occupation Committee fails to bring about a vote on its mandate to link up with workers. This impasse causes Debord, Riesel, and the other SI and Enragés members to leave the Sorbonne, occupy the National Institute of Pedagogy, and create the Council for the Maintenance of Occupations, or CMDO.
  • For the rest of May and early June, the CMDO members make posters, write tracts, and create détourned comics that they distribute at the Sorbonne, throughout the Latin Quarter, and in other parts of Paris.
  • After the strikes on 14-15 May, wildcat strikes rapidly engulf France over the next week and a half.
  • By late May, over ten-million striking workers bring the economy—and the political system—to a standstill.
  • On 30 May, President de Gaulle delivers a nationally broadcast radio address during which he announces that he will not resign, that he is dissolving the national assembly, that new elections will soon take place for president and assembly seats, and that all workers are to stop their strikes and return to work.
  • Responding to de Gaulle's speech, over three hundred thousand people from France's patriotic right take to the streets against the students and striking workers, inflicting devastating violence on the protesters.
  • By mid-June, Debord, Vaneigem, Riesel, and the other SI and Enragés members dissolve the CMDO and leave France to avoid being arrested; they travel to Brussels and meet at Vaneigem's apartment.
  • In July, they complete their collectively-authored account of their involvement in the occupations, titled Enragés et situationnistes dans le mouvement des occupations [Enragés and Situationists in the Occupation Movement, France, May '68], after which they return to Paris.
  • In October, Enragés et situationnistes dans le mouvement des occupations is published.
1969
  • In January, an American section of the SI is officially formed, composed of Tony Verlaan, Bruce Elwell, and Robert Chasse; Jon Horelick joins at a later date.
  • Also in January, an Italian section of the SI is formed, composed of Gianfranco Sanguinetti, Claudio Pavan, Paolo Salvadori, and Eduardo Rothe.
  • In June, the SI's American section publishes its first and only issue of its journal Situationist International.
  • In July, the SI's Italian section publishes the first and only issue of its journal Internazionale Situationista.
  • In September, Debord publishes issue twelve of Internationale Situationniste and announces he is stepping down as editor of the journal, leaving others to decide who will take over.
  • René Viénet assumes the role of main editor of the SI's journal, with the Editorial Committee composed of René Riesel, Christian Sebastiani, and François de Beaulieu; these members will ultimately fail to put out another issue of the SI's journal.
  • From 25 September to 1 October, the SI holds its eighth and final conference, in Venice; the conference is the SI's largest, attended by all eighteen members representing the French, Italian, Scandinavian, and American sections. The most important decision made is that the SI would engage in an "orientation debate" about what the organization's direction should be going forth.
1970
  • From 17-19 January, delegates from the remaining SI sections meet in the German cities of Wolsfeld and Trier, where they decide to discontinue the SI's American section, excluding Chasse and Elwell.
  • In April, the French section decides to discontinue the SI's Italian section, excluding Pavan, Salvadori, and Rothe.
  • After several other exclusions from the French section throughout 1970, eleven members remain: Debord, Vaneigem, Viénet, Riesel, Sebastiani, de Beaulieu, Verlaan, Horelick, Sanguinetti, Salvadori, and Martin.
  • On 11 November, the trio of Debord, Viénet, and Riesel establish a "tendency" within the SI against Vaneigem and those members who are aligned with him.
  • On 14 November, Vaneigem resigns from the SI.
  • After more exclusions and resignations in the wake of Vaneigem's resignation, the remaining SI members are Debord, Sanguinetti, Viénet, Riesel, and Martin.
1971
  • In February, Viénet resigns.
  • In September, a facsimile of the twelve issues of Internationale Situationniste is published by the Amsterdam-based publisher Van Gennep.
  • Also in September, Riesel is excluded, leaving Debord, Sanguinetti, and Martin as the remaining members of the SI.
1972
  • In January, L'Internationale situationniste chronologie, bibliographie, protagonistes is published by Champ Libre with Debord's approval.
  • In April, Debord publishes the book La veritable scission dans l'internationale [The Real Split in the International], which marks the official dissolution of the Situationist International. (Debord wrote the book but added Sanguinetti's name as co-author.)

Members[edit]

Based on an appendix to James Trier's book Guy Debord, the Situationist International, and the Revolutionary Spirit, 2019.

Name SI section Year admitted Year excluded or resigned Excluded, resigned, split
Guy Debord French 1957 July 1972 April Member to the end
Michèle Bernstein French 1957 July 1967 Fall R
Asger Jorn French 1957 July 1961 April R
Mustapha Khayati French 1965 March 1969 September R
René Viénet French 1963 Spring 1971 February R
Anton Hartstein French 1966 Early 1966 July E
Jean Garnault French 1966 July 1967 January E
Herbert Holl French 1966 July 1967 January E
Theo Frey[1] French 1966 July 1967 January E
Edith Frey French 1966 July 1967 January E
Simon Djangani Lungela French 1966 July 1967 Late R
René Riesel French 1968 Fall 1971 September E
Alain Chevalier French 1968 Fall 1969 October E
François de Beaulieu French 1968 Fall 1970 July R
Patrick Cheval French 1968 Fall 1970 January R
Christian Sebastiani French 1968 Fall 1970 December R
Walter Olmo Italian 1957 July 1958 January E
Piero Simondo Italian 1957 July 1958 January E
Elena Verrone Italian 1957 July 1958 January E
Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio Italian 1957 July 1960 May E
Giors Melanotte[2] Italian 1957 1960 May E
Glauco Wuerich Italian 1958 May 1960 May E
Claudio Pavan Italian 1969 January 1970 March E
Eduardo Rothe Italian 1969 Spring 1970 April E
Paolo Salvadori Italian 1969 January 1970 August E
Gianfranco Sanguinetti Italian 1969 January 1972 April Member to the end
Walter Korun[3] Belgian 1957 1958 October E
Maurice Wyckaert Belgian 1958 April 1961 April E
Raoul Vaneigem Belgian 1961 Early 1970 November R
Attila Kotányi Belgian 1960 May 1963 December E
Jan Strijbosch Belgian 1962 November 1966 July E
Rudi Renson Belgian 1962 November 1966 July E
Ralph Rumney English 1957 July 1958 June E
Donald Nicholson-Smith English 1965 Fall 1967 December E
T.J. Clark English 1965 Fall 1967 December E
Chris Gray English 1966 October 1967 December E
Charles Radcliffe English 1966 October 1967 November R
Mohamed Dahou Algerian 1957 1959 December R
Abdelhafid Khatib Algerian 1957 1960 December R
Constant Nieuwenhuys Dutch 1957 1960 June R
Har Oudejans Dutch 1959 March 1960 March E
Anton Alberts Dutch 1959 March 1960 March E
Armando[4] Dutch 1959 March 1960 March E
Jacqueline de Jong Dutch 1960 July 1962 March Split
Hans Peter Zimmer German (Gruppe SPUR) 1959 April 1962 February E
Hans Platschek German 1958 January 1959 February E
Uwe Lausen German (Gruppe SPUR) 1959 February 1965 March E
Heimrad Prem German (Gruppe SPUR) 1959 April 1962 February E
Helmut Sturm German (Gruppe SPUR) 1959 April 1962 February E
Heinz Hofl German (Gruppe SPUR) 1959 April 1960 May R
Erwin Eisch German (Gruppe Radama) 1959 April 1962 February E
Lothar Fischer German (Gruppe SPUR) 1959 April 1962 February E
E. R. Nele German (Gruppe SPUR) 1959 April 1962 February E
Gretel Stadler German (Gruppe Radama) 1959 April 1962 February E
Dieter Kunzelmann German (Gruppe SPUR) 1961 Early 1962 February E
Jørgen Nash Scandinavian 1960 Summer 1962 March Split
Ansgar Elde Scandinavian 1960 Summer 1962 March Split
Steffan Larsson Scandinavian 1960 Summer 1962 March Split
Katja Lindell Scandinavian 1960 Summer 1962 March Split
Hardy Strid Scandinavian 1960 Summer 1962 March Split
JV Martin Scandinavian 1961 August 1972 April Member to the end
Peter Laugesen Scandinavian 1962 Summer 1963 December E
Robert Chasse American 1969 January 1970 January E
Bruce Elwell American 1969 January 1970 January E
Jon Horelick American 1969 Spring 1970 November E
Tony Verlaan American 1969 January 1970 November E
Alexander Trocchi Scottish / No section 1957 1964 Fall E
Andre Frankin Belgian / No SI section 1957 1961 March R
Jacques Ovadia Israeli / No SI section 1960 June 1961 November R
Ivan Chtcheglov[5] French / No SI section Member to the end?
Joseph M’Belolo Ya M’Piku[6] Belgian ?
José Da Nzungu[7] Belgian ?

Of the total of 70 members, there were 44 exclusions, 16 resignations, 6 splits, and 4 members until the end (if Chtcheglov is included).

Notes[edit]

  1. Theo and Edith Frey were siblings.
  2. “Giors Melanotte” is a pseudonym for Giorgio Gallizio.
  3. “Walter Korun” is a pseudonym for Piet de Groof.
  4. “Armando” is a pseudonym for Herman Dirk Van Dodeweerd.
  5. Chris Gray’s SI membership chart in Leaving the 20th Century: The Incomplete Work of the Situationist International (132-133) lists Ivan Chtcheglov as an SI member. However, Chtcheglov was excluded from the Lettrist International, and, according to SI scholarship published in English, Debord never formally admitted Chtcheglov into the SI. Gray for some reason identifies Chtcheglov as a "Member from Afar", but he was not. Chtcheglov wrote several letters to Debord and Bernstein in 1966, excerpts of which were published in Internationale Situationniste (issue nine, 1964) in an article titled "Letters from Afar", but Debord left no written record of ever according Chtcheglov the status of "member from afar". Chtcheglov’s membership in the SI seems to be a myth, born of an error whose origin is a mystery. All that said, perhaps in the French scholarship that has not yet been translated into English there exists some evidence of Debord admitting Chtcheglov into the SI as a “member from afar.” On the basis of that outside possibility, Chtcheglov is included in this chart.
  6. Not listed in James Trier (2019).
  7. Not listed in James Trier (2019).

Publications[edit]

Periodicals[edit]

  • Cahier pour un paysage à inventer, 1 issue, ed. Patrick Straram, Montreal, May 1960, 103 pp. A Situationist-influenced periodical. [8] (French)
  • The Situationist Times, 6 numbers, eds. Jacqueline de Jong (1-6) and Noël Arnaud (1-2), Hengelo (NL), Copenhagen and Paris, May 1962-Dec 1967. (English)
  • Drakabygget: tidskrift for konst mot atombomber, påvar och politiker, 11 numbers (5 issues), eds. Katarina Lindell (1-3), Jørgen Nash (4-11), and Lis Zwick (6-11), Örkelljunga, Sweden: Bauhaus Situationiste: Drakabyggets kollektivverkstad, 1962-1965 & 1982-1983. The journal of the Bauhaus Situationiste group. [9] (Swedish)
  • Der Deutsche Gedanke. Organ der Situationistischen Internationale für Mitteleuropa, 1 issue, ed. Raoul Vaneigem, Brussels, Apr 1963. First issue of the Internationale situationniste in Germany, Der Deutsche Gedanke was meant to replace Spur after the exclusion of the group. [13]. (German)
  • Internazionale Situationista, 1 issue, Milan: Internazionale Situazionista, Jul 1969, 144 pp. Journal of the Italian section of SI. [17] [18] (Italian)
    • trans., in Section italienne de l'Internationale Situationniste: Ecrits complets, 1969-1972, trans. Joel Gayraud and Luc Mercier, Paris: Contre-Moule, 1988. (French)

Books (selection)[edit]

Guy Debord, Rapport sur la construction des situations, 1957, PDF (1989).
De la misère en milieu étudiant, 1966, PDF.
Guy Debord, La Société du Spectacle, 1967, Log, HTML.
Guy Debord, The Society of Spectacle, 1967/1970ff, Log, PDF (Perlman & Supak, 1970), PDF (Nicholson-Smith, 1994), PDF (Knabb, 2005/2014), HTML (Knabb, 2005/2014).
Raoul Vaneigem, Traité de savoir-vivre à l'usage des jeunes générations, 1967, Log, PDF.
Guy Debord, Gianfranco Sanguinetti, La véritable scission dans l'Internationale, 1972.
Ken Knabb (ed.), Situationist International Anthology, 1981/2006, Log, HTML, PDF, EPUB.
Guy Debord, Commentaires sur la société du spectacle, 1988, ARG (1992).
Guy Debord, Comments on the Society of the Spectacle, 1988/1990, PDF.
McKenzie Wark, The Beach Beneath the Street: The Everyday Life and Glorious Times of the Situationist International, 2011, Log, PDF.
Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen, Jakob Jakobsen (eds.), Cosmonauts of the Future: Texts from the Situationist Movement in Scandinavia and Elsewhere, 2015, Log, PDF.

For more, see the bibliographies of individual members Debord, Bernstein, Jorn, Vaneigem, De Jong, a.o.

  • The English Section of the Situationist International (Tim Clarke, Christopher Gray, Charles Radcliffe, Donald Nicholson-Smith), The Revolution of Modern Art and the Modern Art of Revolution, 1967; repr., London: Chronos Publications, 1994, 26 pp. (English)
  • René Viénet, Enragés et situationnistes dans le mouvement des occupations, Paris: Gallimard, Nov 1968, 320 pp. [23]. Includes numerous documents and illustrations. Although published in Viénet's name, this book was actually collectively written by Debord, Vaneigem, Viénet, Khayati and Riesel. (French)
    • Wütende und Situationisten in der Bewegung der Besetzungen. Paris, Mai '68, trans. Barbara Merkel and Pierre Gallissaires, Hamburg: Nautilus, 1977, 207 pp; repr., Berlin: Freundinnen und Freunden der klassenlosen Gesellschaft, 2006, 172 pp. (German)
    • Enragés, y situacionistas en el movimiento de las ocupaciones, Madrid: Castellote, 1978, 202 pp. (Spanish)
    • Máis 1968, lyssasménoi kai sitouasionistés mésa sto kínima ton katalípseon [Μάης 1968, λυσσασμένοι και σιτουασιονιστές μέσα στο κίνημα των καταλήψεων], Athens: International Library (Διεθνής Βιβλιοθήκη), 1978. (Greek)
    • Enrages and Situationists in the Occupation Movement, France, May '68, New York: Autonomedia, and London: Rebel Press, 1992, 158 pp. Review: Andreotti (J Arch Edu). (English)
  • Guy Debord, Gianfranco Sanguinetti, La véritable scission dans l'Internationale, Paris: Champ Libre, 1972, 147 pp; exp.ed., Paris: Fayard, 1998, 175 pp. [24] (French)

Manifestos, proclamations[edit]

  • "Manifeste", Internationale situationniste 4, ed. G.-E. Debord, Paris, Jun 1960, pp 36-38. Dated 17 May 1960. (French)
    • "Situationist Manifesto", trans. Fabian Tompsett, in Cosmonauts of the Future, eds. Bolt and Jakobsen, 2015, pp 47-49. (English)

Catalogues[edit]

Anthologies[edit]

  • Situationister 1957-70, eds. Ambrosius Fjord and Patrick O'Brien [Jørgen Nash and Jens-Jørgen Thorsen], Copenhagen: Bauhaus Situationniste, 1971. Preface. Thorsen's text, (2). (Danish)
  • Débat d'orientation de l'ex-Internationale Situationniste, Paris: Centre de Recherche sur la Question Sociale (CRQS), 1974, 79 pp; repr., Éditions du Cercle Carré, 2000. Compilation of 35 internal documents of the SI debating possible strategies in the aftermath of May 1968. [25] (French)
  • Documents relatifs à la fondation de l'Internationale situationniste, 1948-1957, ed. Gérard Berréby, Paris: Allia, 1985. [26] (French)
  • An Endless Passion... an Endless Banquet: A Situationist Scrapbook, ed. Iwona Blazwick, London: Verso, and London: Institute for Contemporary Art, 1989, 96 pp. Selected documents from the SI from 1957-1962, and documents tracing the impact on British culture from the 1960s to the 1980s. Review: Smith (Oxford Art J). (English)
  • Der Beginn einer Epoche. Texte der Situationisten, forew. Roberto Ohrt, trans. Pierre Gallissaires, Hanna Mittelstädt, and Roberto Ohrt, Hamburg: Nautilus, 1995, 320 pp; 2nd ed., 2008. [27] (German)
  • Beneath the Paving Stones: Situationists and the Beach, May 1968, ed. Dark Star, Edinburgh and San Francisco: AK Press, and Dark Star, 2001, 120 pp. Contains 3 pamphlets from the 1960s: The Poverty of Student Life; Totality for Kids; and The Decline and Fall of the Spectacular Commodity Economy; and other documents. (English)
  • Textes et documents situationnistes, 1957-1960, ed. Gérard Berréby, Paris: Allia, 2004, 264 pp. All of the SI's publications from its first four years. [28] (French)
  • The Situationists and the City: A Reader, ed. Tom McDonough, London: Verso, 2010, 288 pp. [29] (English)

More[edit]

Film[edit]

Documentaries[edit]

Literature[edit]

  • Jean-Jacques Raspaud, Jean-Pierre Voyer, L'Internationale situationniste chronologie, bibliographie, protagonistes (avec un index des noms insultés), Paris: Champ Libre, Jan 1972, 168 pp. (French)
  • Mario Perniola, Agar-Agar 4: "I Situazionisti", Rome: Arcana, Apr-Aug 1972, 92 pp; repr. as I Situazionisti: il movimento che ha profetizzato la società dello spettacolo, Rome: Castelvecchi, 1998, 123 pp; repr., 2005. (Italian)
  • Pinot Gallizio et il Laboratorio Sperimentale d’Alba del Movimento Internazionale per una Bauhaus Imaginista (1955-57) e dell’Internazionale Situazionista (1957-60), Torino: Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, 1974, [128+50] pp. Catalogue. [31] [32] [33] (Italian)
  • Mirella Bandini, L'estetico il politico: da Cobra all'Internazionale Situazionista, 1948-1957, Rome: Officina, 1977, 391 pp. (Italian)
    • L'Esthétique, le politique: de Cobra à l’internationale Situationniste, 1948-1957, trans. Claude Galli, Arles: Sulliver, and Marseille: Via Valeriano, 1998, 353 pp. Review: Debecque-Michel (Critique d'art). (French)
  • Hurl Barbe [Pierre Laurendeau], Pompe le mousse, Paris: Brigandine, 1982, 188 pp; repr., Sous la Cape, 2013, 144 pp. Novel. [34] [35] (French)
  • Greil Marcus, Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century, London: Secker & Warburg, 1989, 496 pp; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989, 496 pp; new ed., London: Penguin, 1993, 512 pp; repr., Harvard University Press, 2009. (English)
    • Tracce di rossetto: percorsi segreti nella cultura del Novecento dal dada ai Sex Pistols, trans. Mita Vitti, Milan: Leonardo, 1991, 506 pp; repr., Milan: Il Saggiatore, 2018, 523 pp. (Italian)
    • Lipstick Traces: von Dada bis Punk - eine geheime Kulturgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts, trans. Hans M. Herzog and Friedrich Schneider, Hamburg: Rogner & Bernhard bei Zweitausendeins, 1992, 512 pp. (German)
    • Rastros de carmín. Una historia secreta del siglo XX, trans. Damián Alou, Barcelona: Anagrama, 1993, 527 pp. (Spanish)
    • Lipstick traces: une histoire secrète du vingtième siècle, trans. Guillaume Godard, Paris: Gallimard, 1998, 602 pp. [38] (French)
    • Stopy rtěnky: tajná historie dvacátého století, trans. Dušan Krejčí, Olomouc: Votobia, 1998, 427 pp. (Czech)
    • Ruj lekesi: Yirminci Yüzyılın gizli tarihi, trans. Gürol Koca, Istanbul: Ayrıntı, 1999, 496 pp. (Turkish)
    • Sledy pomady: Taynaya istoriya XX veka [Следы помады: Тайная история XX века], trans. A. Umnyashov, Moscow: Hylaea (Гилея), 2019, 640 pp. [39] (Russian)
  • Roberto Ohrt, Phantom Avantgarde: eine Geschichte der Situationistischen Internationale und der modernen Kunst, Hamburg: Nautilus, 1990, 333 pp; 2nd ed., 1997, 333 pp. [41] (German)
  • Giorgio Agamben, Guy Debord, Enrico Ghezzi, Luisa Passerini, Alberto Piccinini, Francesco Poli, Filippo Scarpelli, Roberto Silvestri, Paolo Virno, I Situazionisti, Rome: Manifestolibri Set, 1991, 94 pp. (Italian)
  • Lund Art Press 2(3): "Bauhaus Situationist", 1992. Special issue on the Scandinavian Bauhaus Situationist movement. (English)
  • Transgressions: A Journal of Urban Exploration, 5 numbers, ed. Alastair Bonnett, London: Salamander Press, 1995-2001. [42] [43] [44] [45] (English)
  • Situacionistas: arte, politica, urbanismo / Situationists: Art, Politics, Urbanism, ed. Libero Andreotti, Barcelona: Museu d`Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), 1996, 167 pp. Catalogue. (Spanish)/(English)
  • Gianfranco Marelli, L'amara vittoria del Situazionismo: per una storia critica dell'Internationale Situationniste, 1957-1972, Pisa: Biblioteca Franco Serantini, 1996, 396 pp; new ed., rev., upd. & exp., Milan: Mimesis, 2017, 445 pp. (Italian)
    • L'Amère victoire du Situationnisme: pour une histoire critique du Situationnisme, 1957-1972, trans. David Bosc, Arles: Sulliver, 1998, 427 pp. Review: Debecque-Michel (Critique d'art). (French)
  • Situationistische Internationale 1957-1972, ed. Dieter Schrage, Vienna: MUMOK and Triton, 1998, 120 pp. Catalogue for an exh. held 31 Jan-15 Mar 1998. (German)
  • Roberto Ohrt (ed.), Das große Spiel. Die Situationisten zwischen Politik und Kunst, Hamburg: Nautilus, 2000, 224 pp. [47] (German)
  • Catherine de Zegher, Mark Wigley (eds.), The Activist Drawing: Retracing Situationist Architectures from Constant's New Babylon to Beyond, New York: Drawing Center, and MIT Press, 2001. (English)
  • Archives et documents situationnistes, 5 issues, Paris: Denoël, 2001-2005. Journal. [48] (French)
  • J.U.P. [Jane Heiss, Ulrike Müller, Patricia Reschenbach], Situationistinnen und andere..., afterw. Renée Green, Berlin: b_books, 2001, 77 pp. [50] [51] [52] (German)
  • Sergio Ghirardi, Nous n'avons pas peur des ruines: les situationnistes et notre temps, pref. Raoul Vaneigem, Montreuil: Insomniaque, 2003, 177 pp. (French)
    • Non abbiamo paura delle rovine: i situazionisti e il nostro tempo, Rome: DeriveApprodi, 2005, 204 pp. (Italian)
  • Achille Bonito Oliva (ed.), Art Tribes, Milan: Skira, 2002, IA. (English)
  • Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen, Den sidste avantgarde. Situationistisk Internationale hinsides kunst og politik, Copenhagen: Politisk Revy, 2004. (Danish)
  • Laurent Chollet, Les Situationnistes: l'utopie incarnée, Paris: Gallimard, 2004, 127 pp. [53] [54] (French)
  • Figures de la négation: avant-gardes du dépassement de l'art, ed. Yan Ciret, Saint-Étienne: Musée d'art moderne, 2004, 178 pp. TOC. Catalogue for exh. held 22 Nov 2003-22 Feb 2004. (French)
  • Simon Ford, Situationist International: A User’s Guide, London: Black Dog, 2004, 208 pp. Review: Westermann (Leonardo). (English)
    • Die Situationistische Internationale: eine Gebrauchsanleitung, trans. Egon Günther, Hamburg: Nautilus, 2007, 224 pp. [55] (German)
  • Kelly Baum, The Politics of Pleasure: Gender, Desire, and Détournement in the Art of the Situationist International, University of Delaware, 2005. PhD dissertation. (English)
  • In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni: The Situationist International, 1957-1972, eds. Stefan Zweifel, Juri Steiner, and Heinz Stahlhut, Zürich: JRP/Ringier, 2006, 247 pp. Catalogue for an exh. held at the Centraal Museum Utrecht, 14 Dec 2006-11 Mar 2007; Museum Tinguely, Basel, 4 Apr-5 Aug 2007. (English)
  • Anthropos 229: "La Internacional Situacionista: un proyecto de autonomía y transmutación social", Barcelona: Anthropos, 2010, 224 pp. [58] [59] (Spanish)
  • Max Jakob Orlich, Situationistische Internationale: Eintritt, Austritt, Ausschluss. Zur Dialektik interpersoneller Beziehungen und Theorieproduktion einer ästhetisch-politischen Avantgarde (1957-1972), Bielefeld: transcript, 2011, 629 pp. Excerpt. [62] (German)
  • Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen, Playmates and Playboys at a Higher Level: J.V. Martin and the Situationist International, Berlin: Sternberg, and Stockholm: Moderna Museet, 2015, 64 pp. [64] (English)
  • Anna Trespeuch-Berthelot, L'Internationale situationniste: de l'histoire au mythe, (1948-2013), pref. Pascal Ory, Paris: PUF, 2015, 564 pp. Review: Zerilli (Lectures). [65] (French)
  • Marvin Chlada, Bernd Kalus (eds.), Situationistische Internationale, Duisburg: Dialog & Trikont, 2016, 130 pp. Excerpt. [67] (German)
  • Daniel Birnbaum, Kim West (eds.), Life on Sirius: The Situationist International and the Exhibition after Art, Stockholm: Moderna Museet, and Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2017, 72 pp. Publisher. Review: Hampton (Art Monthly). (English)
  • Christophe Bourseiller, Les situationnistes: la révolution de la vie quotidienne (1957-1972), Brussels: Le Lombard, 2017, 71 pp. (French)
  • Wolfgang Scheppe, Roberto Ohrt, The Most Dangerous Game. Der Weg der Situationistischen Internationale in den Mai 68, 2 vols., Berlin: Merve, 2018, 908+80 pp. [69] [70] (German)
  • Tanya Loi, We Make Revolution in Our Spare Time: The History and Legacy of the Situationist International, Public Reading Rooms, 2019, 80 pp. [71] [72] [73] (English)
  • Tom McDonough, "Cinema at a Standstill", October 177, 2021, pp 79-95. [74] (English)
Encyclopedic entries

en Oxford DA, Tate, Wikipedia. it Treccani. cr Šuvaković.

Bibliography
  • Simon Ford, The Realization And Suppression Of The Situationist International: An Annotated Bibliography 1972–1992, AK Press, 1996, 155 pp. [75] (English)

Resources[edit]

Exhibitions[edit]

  • Situationister 1957-71 Drakabygget, Skånska Konstmuseum, Lund/Sweden, 1971. Catalogue text.
  • On the Passage of a Few People through a Rather Brief Moment in Time: The Situationist International, 1957-1972, Musée National d’Art Modern Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 21 Feb-9 Apr 1989; Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, 23 Jun-13 Aug 1989; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 20 Oct 1989-7 Jan 1990. Catalogue published. Exh. review: Smith (NY Times).
  • An Army of Liars: Situationists in Scandinavia, Kunsthall Oslo, 25 Nov 2016-29 Jan 2017. First major exhibition to examine the legacy of the Situationist movement in the region. Archive material.
  • The World We Must Leave: An Idea of Revolution by Jakob Jakobsen and Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen, Kunsthal Aarhus, 19 Nov 2010-9 Jan 2011; Kunsthall Oslo, 25 Nov 2016-29 Jan 2017. Works and documents from the SI and 3 short films. Exhibition guides: Aarhus, Oslo.
  • Jacqueline De Jong: The Situationist Times, 1962-1967, exhibition, Boo-Hurray, New York, 9-25 May 2012.
  • An Army of Liars: Situationists in Scandinavia, Kunsthall Oslo, Oslo, 25 Nov 2016-29 Jan 2017. The first major exhibition to examine the legacy of the Situationist movement across Scandinavia. Review: Norton (Kunstkritikk, NO).
  • Oenighet ger styrka – Bauhaus situationister 1960-1975, Kristianstad konsthall, Kristianstad, 14 Oct 2017-21 Jan 2018. Presents the Scandinavian faction of the Situationist International. Review: Rana (Kunstkritikk).
  • Die Welt als Labyrint, MAMCO, Geneva, 28 Feb-6 May 2018. An exhibition on Letterism, Letterist International, Second Letterist International, Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus, Experimental Laboratory of Alba, London Psychogeographical Association, Situationist International, Situationist Times, and SPUR. Curated by John Armleder, Gérard Berreby, Paul Bernard, Lionel Bovier, Alexandra Catana Tucknott, Julien Fronsacq, and Mai-Thu Perret.
  • Jacqueline De Jong & The Situationist Times: Same Player Shoots Again!, exhibition, Torpedo/PUB, Oslo, 11 May-2 Sep 2018; Konsthall Malmö, 15 Sep 2018-13 Jan 2019; Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark, 31 Aug-1 Dec 2019. Curated by Ellef Prestsæter in collaboration with Torpedo and Jacqueline de Jong. Review: Henriksen (Kunstkritikk).
  • The Most Dangerous Game: The Situationist International en route for May '68, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, 27 Sep-10 Dec 2018. First reconstruction of the unfinished project Bibliothèque situationniste de Silkeborg outlined by Debord with Asger Jorn. Devised by Wolfgang Scheppe in collaboration with Roberto Ohrt and Eleonora Sovrani. Two-volume book published. Exh. review: Henriksen (Kunstkritikk).

See also[edit]


Visual art

Styles and movementsHistoriansWritersMuseumsCare1990sEast Central EuropeReference
See also Art and culture