Situationism

{{anarchism}}
{{cquote|We don’t want a world where the guarantee of not dying of starvation brings the risk of dying of [[bored]]om.||| Graffiti from Paris 
1968<ref>[http://www.bopsecrets.org/CF/graffiti.htm May 1968 graffiti], Bureau of Public Secrets</ref>}}
{{cquote|People who talk about [[revolution]] and [[Communist glossary#Class struggle|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 corpses in their mouths.|||Raoul Vaneigem in ''Revolution of Everyday Life'', chapter 1<ref name=roel>[http://library.nothingness.org/articles/SI/en/pub_contents/5 Revolution of Everyday Life] by Raoul Vaneigem (1967) ''nothingness.org''.</ref>}}

'''Situationism''', a [[far-left]] artistic and [[political]] movement, primarily originating in [[France]], spearheaded by the {{wpl|Situationist International||,}} which lasted from around 1957 to 1972. While active in the production of theory and journals, the International did not produce many important [[art]]-works, despite the brief involvement of a few then-prominent [[European]] artists (principally Asger Jorn and Constant). Situationists became involved in the protests in Paris in {{wpl|May 1968}} (the extent of this involvement is debated), as well as in a few memorable stunts such as briefly taking control of the University of Strasbourg's student union in 1966.

The influence of Situationism far outweighs its actions: the theory of [[Guy Debord]] and {{wpl|Raoul Vaneigem}} informed French [[postmodernist]] theory, especially the work of [[Jean Baudrillard]]. Culturally, it provided ideas and raw material for many artistic and protest movements from [[punk]] (the Sex Pistols was largely an exercise in Situationism) to [[Adbusters]]/[[Occupy]] to {{wpl|psychogeography||.}}

==History==
[[File:Debord knife.jpeg|thumb|right|168px|Debord with a knife]]
===Foundation and early years===
Situationism grew out of a tradition of European, and especially Parisian, avant-garde artistic movements. Before [[World War II]], Paris had been home to Cubism, [[Modern art and architecture#Dada|Dadaism]], and [[Modern art and architecture#Surrealism|Surrealism]], with their interest in oppositional politics, manifesto-writing, new modes of perception, and transforming the relation between art, [[mass media]], and life. After World War II, Paris was a bit quieter, though the [[Romania]]n-born writer Isidore Isou tried to fill the vacuum with a quixotic artistic movement called Lettrism, which focused on letter poetry (poetry that used strings of letters instead of words or sentences; there was a whole theory about the dissolution of language and meaning behind it). Leading Situationist theorist Guy Debord and artist Gil J. Wolman were both members of Isou's Lettrism.

Debord and Wolman quickly broke from Isou to form their own avant-garde group, the Lettrist International. This merged with the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus (an offshoot of European art movement CoBrA) and the London Psychogeographical Association to form the Situationist International (SI) in 1957, following the First World Congress Of Liberated Artists in 1956.<ref name=assault>[https://www.stewarthomesociety.org/ass/liber.htm The Assault on Culture], Stewart Home, 1991</ref>{{rp|chapter 5}} Like earlier avant-garde movements (André Breton's Surrealism most prominently), Situationists had a mania for schisms and expulsions, so the membership of the movement was rapidly changing. But important figures included:
* Guy Debord: chief theorist and maker of impenetrable films.
* {{wpl|Michele Bernstein||:}} writer and later Debord's wife.
* {{wpl|Gil J. Wolman||:}} early figure in Situationism, thrown out after an argument with Debord.
* {{wpl|Alexander Trocchi||:}} the [[Scottish]]-[[Italian]] writer, known for his [[heroin]] abuse and works such as ''Cain's Book'', was briefly involved.
* {{wpl|Asger Jorn}}: the [[Danish]] artist was a leading figure in CoBrA, a north European art movement which sought to return to a primitive childlike art in the wake of World War II. He was prominent in the early years of the SI, and continued to bankroll it by selling paintings long after he moved away ideologically from its members.<ref name=assault />{{rp|chapter 6}}
* {{wpl|Constant Nieuwenhuys}} (better known as Constant): an important Dutch artist, previously active in CoBrA.
* {{wpl|Ralph Rumney||:}} essentially the only member of the London Psychogeographical Association, he was one of those cult writer/artists/theorists/whatever who produced little actual work but joined a lot of things and was thrown out just as quickly.

The SI produced a range of journals and books. One of the most famous was Debord and Jorn's volume ''Mémoires'', which was bound in sandpaper to mess up whatever books it was shelved next to.<ref name=gallix/> This idea was later copied by former Sex Pistol John Lydon for early versions of the ''Metal Box'' album by his band PiL.

===Strasbourg===
A small group of Situationists at the University of Strasbourg took advantage of general apathy to seize control in student elections in 1966. They spent the student union's money on Situationist activities: establishing a fake group called The Society for the Rehabilitation for [[Karl Marx]] and {{wpl|Ravachol||,}} and publishing André Bertrand's 4-page comic strip "Return of the Durruti Column" and a new situationist text called ''On the Poverty of Student Life: A Consideration of Its Economic, Political, Sexual, Psychological and Notably Intellectual Aspects and of a Few Ways to Cure it'' (''De la misère en milieu étudiant considérée sous ses aspects économique, politique, psychologique, sexuel et notamment intellectuel et de quelques moyens pour y remédier'').<ref>[https://lpdme.org/projects/wearetpjh/delamisere.pdf De la misère en milieu étudiant considérée sous ses aspects économique, politique, psychologique, sexuel et notamment intellectuel et de quelques moyens pour y remédier] (1966) ''UNEF Strasbourg''. Reprinted in 2005 by Éditiosn les Partisans du Moindre Efforts''.</ref>

===Paris '68===
The Situationists played a small role in the protests in Paris in May 1968, although this influence is often overstated by more dewy-eyed fans.<ref name=gallix/> Their chief influence was perhaps in the use of situationist slogans by protesters, although their brand of [[anarcho-communism]] chimed with many of the other protestors.

After the failed uprising, the European left fell into despair and navel-gazing, and the SI was essentially reduced to Debord, who disbanded it in 1972. Debord continued to make films, including ''Society of the Spectacle'' (1973) and ''In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni'' (1978). He [[Alcohol|drank]] himself to death, committing [[suicide]] in 1994. In something of a reversal, the French government purchased his personal papers for the nation in 2009.<ref name=gallix>[http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/mar/18/guy-debord-situationist-international The resurrection of Guy Debord] by Andrew Gallix (18 Mar 2009) ''The Guardian''.</ref>

==Theory==
The ideas of Situationism were largely influenced by the [[New Left]] of the 1950s and 1960s and expounded in works such as Raoul Vaneigem's ''The Revolution in Everyday Life'' (''Traité de savoir-vivre à l'usage des jeunes générations''; 1967). They opposed both western [[capitalism]] and the state [[communism]] of the [[Soviet Union]]. In contrast, they sought a more radical [[anarchism]], which would arise out of spontaneous revolution, and supported [[direct democracy]] via workers' councils, an idea taken from anarcho-communist theory that proved to be influential on May 68.<ref>[http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Obituary/debord.html ''Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism''] by Peter Marshall (2010) PM Press. ISBN  1604860642.</ref>{{rp|551-553}} They fêted disaffected youth and juvenile delinquents as a source of revolutionary ideas, rather than focusing on the [[working class]].

One particular influence was the concept of "everyday life" taken from French sociologist {{wpl|Henri Lefebvre||.}} Rather than focusing on abstract ideas, the Situationists worried about the constant micro-pressures of capitalist society, and opposed the [[Lenin]]ist idea of present suffering for future [[socialism]]. They particularly focused on boredom as an inevitable consequence of capitalism and communism which would have to be defeated to achieve a revolutionary utopia.

Artistically, their work was connected with the principle of unifying life and art, rather than creating conventional artworks in a modernist idiom. As with Surrealists such as André Breton, they sought new ways of experiencing modern life and the modern city. Key to this was the concept of ''dérive'', based on Baudelaire's ''flaneur'', an individual who would wander the city free from the rules of capitalism and read it in strange new ways. They also sought to turn the materials of capitalism against itself through the practice of ''détournement'' which involved changing text and otherwise defacing comic strips, advertising, and other popular and commercial art.

Perhaps the most important new theoretical concept they introduced was that of Guy Debord's ''The Society of the Spectacle'' (1967). This emphasised how mass media and modern capitalism work to create an all-encompassing environment, controlling our actions, stopping us from perceiving anything beyond its creations and thereby imaging any possibility of escape. While this drew on work on the mass media by the [[Frankfurt School]], the concept of "the spectacle" provided a model for the likes of Jean Baudrillard<ref>[http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/baudrillard/index.html Jean Baudrillard] by Douglas Kellner (2007) ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''.</ref> and Frederic Jameson to theorise so-called late capitalism and has since been integrated into several other schools of left-wing and anarchist thinking.

==Influences==
The Situationist International appeared to end up an ignominious failure, but its afterlife has been far more productive than its earthly existence.

===New Swiss Cinema===
One of the first appearances of Situationist ideas outside of the SI itself was in the films that [[Switzerland|Swiss]] director Alain Tanner made with British Marxist John Berger in the 1970s, such as ''Charles, Dead or Alive'' (about a wealthy capitalist whose daughter is involved in student protests, the film featuring both Situationist slogans and readings from Lefebvre), and ''Jonah Who Will Be 25 In The Year 2000'' (about veterans of the 1968 protests reflecting on their despair and broken dreams).

===Punk===
{{main|Punk}}
The influence of Situationism on punk is contested. Malcolm McLaren, manager of the Sex Pistols, was certainly interested, and incorporated ideas about situationist pranks into the promotion of his bands, and into the clothes that he and his then-wife, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, sold. English anarchist group King Mob are the missing link in this theory, flyposting London in praise of [[Valerie Solanas]] and planning [[terrorist]] attacks in England's Lake District. Record executive and television presenter Tony Wilson and many of the artists signed to his label Factory Records were also influenced by Situationism. 

The wider influence of Situationism on punk is debated. American rock journalist Greil Marcus in his influential book ''Lipstick Traces'' traced a line from Dadaism, Lettrism, and Situationism to punk. In contrast, British theorist and art provocateur Stewart Home has denied there was any connection between Situationism and punk, claiming punk's roots lay in movements such as the British underground scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s.<ref>[https://www.stewarthomesociety.org/cranked/blood.htm Cranked up Really High: Genre Theory and Punk Rock], Stewart Home, Ch II</ref>

===Culture jamming===
Situationist ''détournement'' was an influence on groups such as [[Adbusters]], the {{wpl|Billboard Liberation Front}}<ref>[https://situationnisteblog.com/2019/04/11/billboard-liberation-front-1997/ Billboard Liberation Front <nowiki>[1997]</nowiki>] by elhajoui (April 11, 2019) ''Situationniste Blog''.</ref> and {{wpl|Negativland|Negativland,}}<ref>[https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/strange-transmissions-the-world-of-experimental-radio-situationism Strange Transmissions: The World Of Experimental Radio: Situationism] (July 2024) ''TheWire''.</ref> who sought to deface or rearrange mass communication to turn its message against itself from one of conformity into one of protest.<ref>{{wpa|culture jamming}}</ref>

===Psychogeography===
The term psychogeography dated back at least to Ralph Rumney in the 1950s. But in the 1990s there began a more coherent artistic movement based on ideas about exploring space, investigating its secret history in terms of revolutionary activity, mental illness, [[crime]], and transforming how we view the modern city, space, and society. This includes writers WG Sebald, Ian Sinclair, and Will Self; filmmakers Patrick Keiller and Andrew Kötting; and comic book writer Alan Moore. This was influenced by the ideas of the Situationist International about exploring and imaginatively transforming space, as well as drawing on the same Surrealist influences as the SI.

===Occupy movement===
The playful nature of Situationist practice, its pranks and détournement, were cited as influences on the [[Occupy]] movement of the early 2010s.<ref>[http://www.e-flux.com/journal/occupy-wall-street-carnival-against-capital-carnivalesque-as-protest-sensibility/ Occupy Wall Street: Carnival Against Capital? Carnivalesque as Protest Sensibility] by Claire Tancons (Dec 2011) ''E-Flux''.</ref><ref>[http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/11/08/the-situationists-and-the-occupation-movements-19682011/ The Situationists and the Occupation Movements (1968/2011)] by Ken Knabb (8 Nov 2011) ''Counterpunch''.</ref>

==Texts and historiography==
''The Society of the Spectacle'' and ''Revolution of Everyday Life''<ref name=roel/> have long been distributed both in the original French and in translation on a copyleft basis, free for non-commercial purposes. Many other Situationist texts have been republished in book form, particularly in French but sometimes in translation.

The most well-known third-party book in English is still Greil Marcus's ''Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the 20<sup>th</sup> Century'' (1989). Although this includes some wacky ideas about secret currents underlying European history, it demonstrates considerable research, has cool pictures, and is at least an entertaining read. Stewart Home's ''The Assault on Culture: Utopian Currents from Lettrism to Class War'' (2<sup>nd</sup> ed, AK Press 1991) devotes a few chapters to the movement.<ref name=assault />

==References==
{{Reflist|2|80%}}

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