Situationist International
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- IMAGE CREDITS
banner: (detail) Asger Jorn, Vive la révolution pasioné de l’intelligence créative, 1968 [Ceuleers & Van de Velde Booksellers, Antwerp]
exhibition history
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- Musée Tinguely Basel
'The International Situationist : 1957-1972', at the Musée Tinguely, April 4 through August 5, 2007. Co-produced with the Centraal Museum Utrecht.
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- Centraal Museum Utrecht
'IN GIRUM IMUS NOCTE ET CONSUMIMUR IGNI. Het verloren paradijs van de Situationistische Internationale' at the Centraal Museum Utrecht (December 15, 2006 - March 11, 2007). The exhibition is coproduced by the Musée Tinguely, Basel and will be on view there April 4 through August 5, 2007.
- [exhibition catalogue] Stefan Zweifel, Juri Steiner, e.a. (eds.), In Girum Imus Nocte et Consumimur Igni - The Situationist International (1957-1972) / contributions by Philippe Sollers, Vincent Kaufmann, Giorgio Agamben, e.a. (JRP|Ringier for Centraal Museum Utrecht and Museum Tinguely Basel : Zürich 2006).
- Slought Foundation Philadelphia
'"Vive le détournement! One More Try if you Want to be Situationists ..." Guy Debord Cineaste' on view at Slought Foundation, Philadelphia. The exhibition was curated by Thomas Y. Levin, Aaron Levy (April 1 - June 1, 2006).
- Musée d'art moderne de Saint-Etienne Métropole
The exhibition After the end of art currently on show at the Saint-Etienne Musée d'Art Moderne (November 22, 2003-February 22, 2004) brings together experiments linked to the transcending of aesthetics between 1945 and the present day, from the lettrist point of view and the early years of situationism. It thus opens out a virtually unknown vista, creating a new relationship with the city, the urban environment and the people who live there.
- [exhibition catalogue] Figures de la négation. Avant-gardes du depassement de l'art / préf. de Yan Ciret; (Musée d'art moderne de Saint-Etienne : Saint-Etienne 2003).
- ZKM Karlsruhe
- Guy Debord - Agent der Kritik gegen ihre Anerkennung Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe (29 September- 4 November 2001), curated by Roberto Ohrt. Besides an introduction (in German) the site provides a list of publications by and on Guy Debord and the Situationist International and adds a list of publications by the referents of the symposium, spring 2002.
- Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Vienna
'Situationistische Internationale, 1957-1972', at the Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Vienna, 20. Haus (31 January-15 March 1998)
- [exhibition catalogue] Dieter Schrage (Hrsg.), Situationistische Internationale, 1957-1972 / contributions by Libero Andreotti, Troels Andersen, Robert Ohrt and others (Triton : Wien 1998).
- Museo d'Art Contemporani Barcelona
'Situacionistas. Arte, politica, urbanismo', held at the MACBa (13 November 1996-6 January 1997)
- [exhibition catalogue] Libero Andreotti, Xavier Costa (eds.), Situacionistas. Arte, politica, urbanismo = Situationists : arts, politics, urbanism (Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona : Barcelona 1996).
- Centre Pompidou Paris
'Sur le passage de quelques personnes à travers une assez courte unité de temps. A propos de l'Internationale Situationniste 1957-1972', at the Centre Pompidou, Paris (February 21-April 9, 1989) was realized by Mark Francis and Peter Wollen. The exhibition travelled to the ICA in London (June 23-August 13, 1989) and in Boston (October 20, 1989-January 7, 1990)
- [exhibition catalogue] Sur le passage de quelques personnes à travers une assez courte unité de temps. A propos de l'Internationale Situationniste 1957-1972 (Editions du Centre Pompidou : Paris 1989).
- [exhibition catalogue] Iwona Blazwick (ed.), An endless adventure ... an endless passion ... an endless banquet : a situationist scrapbook. The Situationist International selected documents from 1957 to 1962. Documents tracing the impact on British culture from the 1960s to the 1980s (ICA : London / Verso : London 1989).
- [exhibition catalogue] Elisabeth Sussman (ed.), On the passage of a few people through a brief moment in time. The Situationist International (1957-1972) (Institute of Contemporary Art etc. : Boston MA 1990).
- [reviews] Friedemann Malsch in Kunstforum International Band 101 (Juni 1989) 362 and by Sabine Seifert, 'Hoch die Situationistische Internationale. Zwei Ausstellungen im Pariser Centre Pompidou und im Goethe-Institut', in TAZ (17.03.1989).
- Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
The exhibition 'Aufbrüche, Manifeste, Manifestationen. Positionen in der bildende Kunst zu Beginn der 60er Jahre in Berlin, Düsseldorf und München' was organized by the Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and on view from October 12 to November 25, 1984. Unlike other European countries and the United States Germany does not have one major cultural center and the main movements in art developed in different regions. Trends in the visual arts in Berlin, Düsseldorf and Munich seem exemplary.
- [exhibition catalogue] Klaus Schrenk (ed.), Upheavals, manifestos, manifestations. Conceptions in the arts at the beginning of the sixties - Berlin, Düsseldorf, Munich = Aufbrüche, Manifeste, Manifestationen ... (DuMont Buchverlag : Köln 1984).
- Galerie Exi Odense
The participants in this 'collective manifestation of the Situationistisk Internationale' were Michèle Bernstein, Guy Debord, J.V.Martin and Jan Strijbosch. See also insert right.
- [exhibition catalogue] Destruktion af RSG-6. En kollektiv manifestation af Situationistisk Internationale (Galerie EXI : Odense 1963).
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- In their 1963 exhibition called 'Destruktion-RSG-6', held at the Galerie Exi in Odense (June 22-July 7), the Situationist International developed a concept of a renewed model of avant-garde praxis. The title for the exhibition was drawn from a pamphlet by the English group 'Spies For Peace'.

- This pamphlet, also exhibited/distributed at Gallery Exi, draws attention to the existence of Regional Seats Of Government i.e. nuclear bunkers/survival shelters into which Government representatives would flee in the event of a nuclear war and, after the fallout, to reestablish rule.
In a crucial, yet much overlooked, catalogue essay, 'Towards New Forms of Action in Politics and Art', Guy Debord presented a distillation of earlier Situationist writings on the avant-garde that still generates productive conclusions. This includes a 'constructive' model of avant-garde practice that rejects the 'nihilistic' tendencies of 1920s Dadaism and Surrealism, as well as the 'spectacle of negation' associated with the so-called neo-avant-gardes of the 1960s, such as Happenings. It also provides a novel avant-garde temporality, one that takes place immanently, in the 'now' of time, but which involves a complex overlapping of past and present revolutionary moments. Debord calls this process the 'reversible connecting factor' whereby past, outmoded and forgotten avant-garde actions are salvaged through connections with current acts of cultural negation - but without recall to any lost originary avant-garde moment, contra Peter Bürger [source: Frances Stracey, 'Destruktion RSG-6. Towards a Situationist Avant-Garde Today', in David Hopkins (ed.), Avant Garde Critical Studies vol. 20 'Neo-Avant-Garde' (Rodopi : Amsterdam/New York 2006) 311-329; images: 'The Destruction of RSG-6, Odense 1963', photograph and target (27x24 cm). Private Collection.
- See also:
- Read the letter of Debord to J.V. Martin.