Situationist Times

The Situationist Times was an international, English-language periodical created and edited by Jacqueline de Jong, of which six issues were published between 1962 and 1967. A radical compendium using such Situationist tactics as détournement and a printed form of dérive, the journal included essays, artwork, found images, and quotations concerned with such issues as topology, politics, and spectacle culture. [1]

De Jong, a Dutch artist and graphic designer, joined the Situationist movement in 1960, and quickly assumed a position within the Central Committee. De Jong was determined to make "a completely free magazine, based on the most creative of the Situationist ideas," and in 1962 she began The Situationist Times, a broad representation of a movement that had already become divided into the political and the aesthetic.

The magazine was initially printed offset on thick colored paper, eventually shifting to full color lithography. Contributors include artists Asger Jorn, Gruppe SPUR, and ‪Pierre Alechinsk‬y, architect Aldo van Eyck, astrophysicist Fred Hoyle, mathematician Walter Eitzmann, musical composer Peter Schat, a.o.

Starting in 1962 there were six issues of The Situationist Times published in in Hengelo (Netherlands), Copenhagen and Paris before the student uprisings of May '68, leaving a 7th issue compiled but unpublished. First issues appeared in an edition of 1000; thereafter expanding to 2000.

Issues

The Situationist Times 1, Hengelo (May 1962). PDF (12 mb). Video.

The Situationist Times 2, Hengelo (Sep 1962). PDF (14 mb). Video.

The Situationist Times 3: "International British Edition", Hengelo (Jan 1963). PDF (16 mb). Video.

The Situationist Times 4: "Labyrynth issue", Copenhagen (Oct 1963). PDF (12 mb). Video.

The Situationist Times 5: "Rings and Chains", Copenhagen (Dec 1964). PDF (14 mb). Video.

The Situationist Times 6: "International Parisian Edition", Paris (Dec 1967). PDF (16 mb). Video.

The above PDFs were produced by the Scandinavian Institute for Computational Vandalism in 2019. The website contains Jacqueline de Jong's history of the magazine’s creation in a series of video clips. More about the project.

• facsimile ed., New York: Boo-Hooray, 2013. [2]. Errata. [3]

Exhibitions, events

• Jacqueline De Jong: The Situationist Times, 1962-1967, exhibition, Boo-Hurray, New York, 9-25 May 2012.
• These are Situationist Times: A Symposium on Topology, Culture and Politics, symposium, Kunsthall Oslo, 28 Jan 2017.
• 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).
• Pinball Wizard: The Work and Life of Jacqueline De Jong, exhibition, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 9 Feb-18 Aug 2019.

Literature

• Christophe Bourseiller, "An Encyclopedia of Forms: The Situationist Times", in Jacqueline de Jong. Undercover in de kunst/ In Art, eds. Ed Wingen, et al., Ludion: Amsterdam, 2003, pp 137-146.
• Xandra Schutte, "‘Ik was onaangepast’", De Groene Amsterdammer 39, Amsterdam, 26 Sep 2012. (Dutch)
• David A.J. Murrieta Flores, "The Situationist Times", ch 1 in Flores, Situationist Margins: The Situationist Times, King Mob, Black Mask, and S.NOB Magazines (1962-1970), University of Essex, 2017, pp 16-84. PhD dissertation.
• Amy Sherlock, "The Life and Times of Jacqueline de Jong", Frieze, 19 Mar 2017. Interview.
• Daniel Spaulding, "Situating Jacqueline de Jong", X-TRA 20:2, Winter 2018. Review of the exhibition Jacqueline de Jong: Imaginary Disobedience.
• Laurie Cluitmans, "‘Mijn werk is volstrekt niet autobiografisch’ - in gesprek met Jacqueline de Jong", Metropolis M, 3 Apr 2018. (Dutch)

Links

• Situationist Times on Beinecke Postwar Culture
• Situationist Times in CCindex
• Situationist Times on Situationist International site, ed. Jo Seegers.
• Wikipedia