Rethinking Situationist Int’l

This seminar will examine the writings, films, artworks, journals, and cultural strategies of the Situationist International (SI), a group of theorists, artists, architects, active between 1957 and 1972. Over the last three decades a substantial body of secondary literature has grown up around the SI, the majority of which has centered on the figure of Guy Debord and the editorial circle around him in Paris. The seminar will draw on the recently acquired archival collections of many figures who participated in the movement and who subsequently resigned or were expelled from it by Debord. These include material related to Enrico Baj and Arte Nucleare (Italy), Jacqueline De Jong and the Situationist Times (Holland), Asger Jorn (Denmark), Attila Kotanyi (Hungary), Jorgen Nash and Drakabygget (Sweden/Norway), Ralph Rumney (UK), Gianfranco Sanguinetti (Italy), the Spur Group (Germany), and Gil J. Wolman (France), among others. The trove of materials at the Beinecke provides a unique opportunity to read Situationism against the grain, not as a singular movement centered around Debord, but as an unruly international network of agonistic affiliation and debate. Classes will be held at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and will invite students to develop a research project that takes advantage of the archival material. The course will combine the close reading of key theoretical concepts developed within the Situationist network (such as Dérive, Détournement, and Spectacle) with an equal emphasis on the visual analysis of works of art, architecture, and film produced by figures associated with the movement. The Beinecke’s unique collections provide an important opportunity to rethink the legacy of the Situationist International and to redefine its position within the broader network of postwar avant-garde practices and beyond
Taught by Craig Buckley Spring 2014
Course Number: 
HSAR 740