INTERNATIONALE LETTRISTE. La plate-forme d’Alba. n.p. [Paris]: n.p. [Internationale Lettriste], n.d. [1956]. Single-sided leaflet; 21 x 31 cm; black ink on cream stock.

Important leaflet regarding the gathering of Free Artists at Alba, which would ultimately lead to the Cosio di Arroscia conference and the foundation of the Situationist International in 1957. The concept of unitary urbanism plays a prominent role in the announcement (“Whatever prestige the bourgeoisie may today be willing to grant to fragmentary or deliberately retrograde artistic tentatives, creation can now be nothing less than a synthesis aiming at the construction of entire atmospheres and styles of life. … A unitary urbanism—the synthesis we call for, incorporating arts and technologies—must be created in accordance with new values of life, values which we now need to distinguish and disseminate.”) The text was later published (in a slightly revised version) in Potlatch 27 (November 1956). Translated into English here: http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/alba.htm

We locate a single OCLC copy at Yale.

DEBORD, Guy. La Société du Spectacle. n.p. [Paris]: n.p., n.d. [1974]. 1 p.; 33.5 x 43.5 cm.; White ink on black stock.

Poster for the cinematic adaptation of Debord’s seminal theoretical treatise, which was published in 1967. The film opened on May 1, 1974 at the Studio Gît-le-Cœur, located at 12 rue Gît-le-Cœur in Paris (for the story of this important art house theater, see https://salles-cinema.com/paris/studio-git-le-coeur), in an exclusive showing.

La Société du Spectacle was screened daily, 6 times a day, for over 5 weeks, was ultimately pulled due to lackluster ticket sales. Debord was seemingly unhappy about the situation. In a letter to Jacques Le Glou, dated June 25, 1974, he writes: “To interrupt the exclusive showing [in Paris], the old whores of the Git-le-Coeur have taken into account a very bizarre fall [off] of ticket-sales in the fifth week (real or falsified?), which placed them below the minimum customarily anticipated by contract (and imprudently accepted by Lebo[vici]), which had accounted for each period from Wednesday to Sunday (1,800 tickets) but without reporting the “excess” of the previous ticket sales. In any case, it was no doubt better to finish with such a hostile environment, which had, on the first day, produced two threats to withdraw the film: on the part of the house [the Git-le-Coeur studio] and on the part of the production [Simar Films]! I wonder if the absence of the title for two weeks from Le Monde had not been provoked by the house itself (perhaps you can see if was also absent, during the same period — starting 22 May — , from France-Soir and other newspapers? If so, the house signaled the coup).” (See Correspondance, Vol. 5: Janvier-Decembre 1978; translation into English available here: https://www.notbored.org/debord-25June1974.html

A few years later, in February 1976, the film would be screened again at Olympic Cinema in Paris (https://situationnisteblog.wordpress.com/2020/07/05/a-partir-du-mercredi-25-fevrier-1976-a-lolympic-deux-films-de-guy-debord-1976/). That screening was disrupted when a commando unit seized the film reel.

We do not locate a copy on the trade or on OCLC of this rare poster.

For those fortunate enough to be in Paris, Loeve & Co Gallery is hosting an exhibition that explores the deep, complex relationship between Guy Debord and Gil Wolman. The two men were founding members of the Internationale Lettriste in 1952, co-wrote the seminal Mode d’emploi du detournement, and maintained strong intellectual and personal affinities until their split in 1957. But even after their friendship and formal collaboration ended, Debord and Wolman went on to influence each others’ oeuvre — and this is precisely what this exhibition does a wonderful job showcasing.

More information can be found here: https://www.loeveandco.com/events/le-jeudi-des-beaux-arts