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[Exhibition & Event on March 4 in San Francisco] Bibliophiles Beware: The Situationist International and the Art & Politics of Cultural Hijacking

18 Sunday Feb 2024

Posted by elhajoui in Uncategorized

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Derive, drifting, psychogeography, Situationist International

You are all cordially invited to the exhibition opening of “Bibliophiles Beware: The Situationist International and the Art & Politics of Cultural Hijacking”, to be held at the Book Club of California at 6pm Pacific on March 4, 2024 .

Reception will begin at 5:30pm, with remarks by yours truly from 6pm to 6:20pm or 6:30pm or so. A few dozen items from my archive will be exhibited through May 13, 2024, including some rarely-seen manuscripts.

For those able to attend in person, the registration link can be found here.

For those unable to attend in person, the registration link for the zoom virtual presentation can be found here.

Synopsis below. I hope to see many familiar and few faces!

Active between 1957 and 1972, The Situationist International (S.I.) was a revolutionary alliance of artists, intellectuals, architects and political theorists that is hailed as the “last avant-garde” of the 20th century. One of the organization’s core concepts is that of détournement, which can be understood as the subversion of established cultural commodities as a means of propaganda. This exhibition presents numerous examples of this innovative practice, from artist books to comic strips, and from leaflets to maps. In doing so, it also attempts to retrace the history of a movement that maintained an ambiguous relationship with their own material productions.

Spectacular Times [

30 Wednesday Apr 2014

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Larry Law, Situationist International, Spectacular Times

Law, Larry. Spectacular Times 1-14. London: Spectacular Times, 1979-1989. Various pagination, 14.5 x 10 cm. Illustrated throughout.

“Larry Law compiled and edited a series of small ‘pocketbooks’ in the late 1970s/early 1980s entitled ‘Spectacular Times’. They serve as a brief introduction to the ideas of Situationism. Each consists of newspaper clippings, quotations, handwritten text by Law and illustrations, all compiled and arranged with great humour!” (nntk.net)

A series of booklets published by Larry Law. I finally got my hand on #5 and #6 – which, until then, were believed to never have been publsihed. All issues are now available in PDF format at http://nntk.net/main.php?g2_itemId=251. Check it out!

 

Protestation Devant les Libertaires du Present et du Futur sur les Capitulations de 1980

08 Saturday Feb 2014

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Guy Debord, Internationale Situationniste, Jean-Claude Lutanie, Situationist International

Un Incontrole [i.e., Jean-Claude Lutanie]. Protestation Devant les Libertaires du Present et du Futur sur les Capitulations de 1980. Paris: Imprimerie Speciale Parisienne, 19 June 1981. 84 p.; 20.5 x 15.cm; black wrappers with red sticker stating title in black.

For a long time, the author of this little-known pamphlet remained a mystery- even to Situationist scholars (see Gonzalvez 183). Indeed, the text “was only signed with the word Incontrôlé (“Uncontrolled”), didn’t bear the name of any publisher, and was printed on stolen paper.” Nearly 30 years later, the mystery was lifted when the text was reissued by Editions Lutanie – a small publishing house named after the pamphlet’s author, Jean-Claude Lutanie – in 2011. The 300 copies quickly sold out.

This text is important in the context of Situationist politics. In the words of the editors of the 2011 edition: “The Protest above all testifies to a disappointment with respect to situationist thought and its ‘youthful, unkept promises.’ Lutanie essentially takes aim at Debord, accusing him, if not of jealousy for a radicalism of which he was quite incapable, although he claimed it, then at least bad faith in his affirmation that the group [Action directe] was manipulated by the State.” Cf. Debord’s letter to Kloosterman dated 13 July 1981: “I have asked Gérard [Lebovici] to send you a copy of a short, very shady pamphlet (…) which, it seems to me, must be read with great attention (http://www.notbored.org/debord-29August1981.html)

Not seen in the trade; the only OCLC copy we could find is at the Labadie library at the University of Michigan

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Opposition: Black Mask, Ben Morea, & U.A.W.M.F

06 Thursday Feb 2014

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Ben Morea, Black Mask, Christopher Gray, Donald Nicholson-Smith, Situationist International, Timothy Clark

Black Mask and Up Against the Wall Motherfucker. Opposition: Black Mask, Ben Morea & U.A.W.M.F. New York: Boo-Hooray, 2014. 158 p.; ill.; 35.5 x 28 cm.; ill. black and white cover. Edition of 300.

Largely unknown by choice, Ben Morea is the force behind the 1960s art/anarchist collectives U.A.W.M.F. and the International Werewolf Conspiracy, and the legendary anarchist zine/broadside Black Mask. Produced in cooperation with Ben, this handmade three-color risograph catalog showcases full reproductions of rare and striking Black Mask artwork, flyers, and ephemera. This edition features a supplementary publication, which includes an exclusive autobiographical text by Ben, an essay by Johan Kugelberg, and annotations of the publications, handbills, and broadsides, celebrating a life work that intersected the underground press, rock and roll, performance art, experimental theater, and radical politics. Released on the occasion of the exhibition mounted at Boo-Hooray from January 16 to February 14, 2014

Ben Morea and Black Mask’s relationship with the Situationists was fraught with tension. In 1966 Black Mask magazine cited the Situationist International as a group moving in a similar direction calling as they were for “the revolution of everyday life” and the abolition of art as a separate, specialized activity. However in December1967 the SI expelled three of its British members (Timothy Clark, Christopher Gray and Donald Nicholson-Smith) for having supported “a certain Ben Morea, publisher of the bulletin Black Mask.”

.pdf[2] (1).pdf[3]

La Societe du Spectacle [JAPANESE]

21 Tuesday Jan 2014

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Guy Debord, Japanese, Situationist International

Debord, Guy. スペクタクルの社会  La Société du Spectacle. Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 2003. 282 p.; 15 x 10.5 cm. Illustrated black cover with text in purple, red and white

Later Japanese edition of Guy Debord’s masterpiece, translated by Kinoshito Makoto. An earlier edition was published in 1993.

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Meeting w/Verlaan (More to Come, 1975)

21 Tuesday Jan 2014

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American Section of the Situationist International, Situationist International, Tony Verlaan

NLC / More to come. Meeting w/ Verlaan. San Francisco (CA): More to Come, 9 April 1975. 8p.; ill.; 21 x 13.5cm.; ill. white wrappers with text in black, B&W picture of “The Cowboys” feat. John Wayne.

In this brief pamphlet, the anonymous author – likely a member of More to Come, a Bay-Area anarchist / prositu collective active in the early and mid-1970s – recounts a conversation with Tony Verlaan, a former member of the American Section of the Situationist International. The text is highly critical, with the author noting that “In the San Francisco Bay Area in the years 1964 to 1972, their (the S.I.’s) practical achievements are nil”. He goes on to criticize Isaac Cronin and others for their obsession with theoretical considerations and similar lack of practice.

This pamphlet is absent for institutional holdings, with the exception of the Labadie Collection at the University of Michigan. To my knowledge, It has not been reproduced on the internet, which is why the full text is featured below.

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Mimeographed Letter dated December, 1968

20 Monday Jan 2014

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Council for the Liberation of Daily Life, Robert Chasse, Situationist International, Situationist International - American Section

[ROBERT CHASSE] Situationist International. Letter dated December, 1968. New York: Situationist International, Dec. 1968. 21 x 29.5 cm. Single-page mimeographed letter; black text on white paper with a correction in blue pen.

Announces the dissolution of the Council for the Liberation of Daily Life as it merges with the Situationist International. Also announces the publication of a “Situationist International magazine” and solicits money for that project. The proposed magazine is described in some detail, and the address of the new Situationist International (at its Cooper Station P.O. Box, New York) is provided.

This document pre-dates the publication of Post Mortem Ante Facto by a few weeks, and that of Situationist International 1 by over six months. It is critical to understand the transition from the pre-Situationist Council for the Liberation of Daily Life to the American Section of the Situationist International

The current letter is rare, unavailable on OCLC and – despite its importance – in digital format. It is mentioned tangentially at http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/si/dailylife.html.

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La F.A. et les Situationnistes: Mémoire pour Discussion dans les Familles après Boire.

22 Saturday Jun 2013

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Anarchism, Federation Anarchiste, Guy Bodson, Guy Debord, Situationist International

Bodson, Guy. La F.A. et les Situationnistes: Mémoire pour Discussion dans les Familles après Boire. [Paris]: n.p, [1973]. 130 p.; ill.; 31.5 x 22.5 cm; grey wrappers with text in black.

A set of photocopied letters and documents that contextualizes the relationship between the Anarchist Federation (F.A..led by Guy Bodson) and the Internationale Situationniste in the mid-1960s. As Gonzalvez points out, Bodson blames the  the breakdown of the F.A. to a Situationist conspiracy.

The Institute of Social History (IISG) in Amsterdam and the Center for Research on Anarchism (CIRA) own copies, but these are the only library holdings.

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Contributions Serving to Rectify the Opinion of the Public Concering the Revolution in Underveloped Countries [1973]

04 Tuesday Jun 2013

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Caribbean Situationist, Raoul Vaneigem, Situationist International

[Caribbean Situationist] Contributions Serving to Rectify the Opinion of the Public Concering the Revolution in Undeveloped Countries. London: Caribbean Situationist, July 1973. 60 x 46cm; white lithographed poster with black print

This beautiful poster – seemingly absent from institutional holdings – reproduces a translated text by Mustapha Khayati published in Internationale Situationniste no.11.The text had already been published as a brochure in 1971 by Create Situations, a US-based pro-situ group, under the title The Poor and the Superpoor: Contributions Serving to Rectify the Opinion of the Public Concerning the Revolution in Underdeveloped countries (see Ford 167).

Here, however, the text is produced in poster form and richly illustrated with black and white images that give a taste of the the uprising in the Hungary, Trinidad, and Jamaica. “The lower part of the poster advertises an LP entitled “None Shall Escape”, along with a blank space intended to denote a record shop where the LP would be available, here blank” (Division Leap) Overall, “a rare propagandizing poster from English situationists hoping to capitalize on Caribbean-emigre concerns about recent riots in their home countries” (Heart Fine Art)

Not in Ford, Vienet, and others

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Bureaucratic Comix [1970]

04 Tuesday Jun 2013

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Bureau of Public Secrets, Contradiction, Detournement, Ken Knabb, Situationist International, Situationist International - American Section

POWERS OF COUNCILS [Ken Knabb], Bureaucratic Comix. Berkeley, Jan. 1970. Illustrated poster. 45 x 57 cm; white paper with text and illustrations in black.

An early poster by the group Contradiction/ For the Power of Councils, to which Ken Knabb – who later went on to launch his Bureau of Public Secrets – belonged. The poster is not accounted for by Ford in his Suppression and Realization of the Situationist International (1972-1992), but appears in a recent bibliography of American Situationists and pro-situ groups (http://www.notbored.org/american-situs.html)

From a formal standpoint, this comix is of a great interest, as it draws from both comic strips and photographs. Issued following the December 1969-January 1970 worker revolt in Poland”, this poster also stands out in its critique of a wide range of communist leaders (Lenin, Castro, Trotsky, Ho Chi Minh and others. ), very much in the Situationist vein.

The text and comic can be found in a legible format at the Bureau of Public Secrets: http://www.bopsecrets.org/comics/bureaucratic.htm

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