manifestos and tracts

PRE-SITUATIONIST

1952
Fini le Cinéma français. Pamphlet distributed at the Cannes Film Festival, signed by Serge Berna, Guy-Ernest Debord, François Dufrêne, Monique Geoffrey, Jean-Isidore Isou, Yolande du Luart, Marc,O., Gabriel Pomerand, Poucette and Gil J. Wolman (April 1952).
Finis les pieds plats. Tract signed by Debord, Serge Berna, Jean-Louis Brau and Gil J Wolman. Originally published in Paris 29 October 1952 by the Lettrist International and published in Internationale lettriste N° 1 (December 1952). Reprinted in Documents rélatifs à la fondation de l'Internationale Situationniste 1948-1957 (Paris 1985) 262. [Archive] [French] [English].
Position de l’Internationale lettriste. Signed by the Lettrist International (Serge Berna, Jean-L. Brau, Guy-Ernest Debord, Gil J Wolman) and published in Internationale lettriste N° 1 (November 1952). [French].
[Founding Conference of the Lettrist International at Aubervilliers] Conférence d’Aubervilliers du 7-XII-52. Signed by [Internationale lettriste], Serge Berna, Jean-Louis Brau, Guy-Ernest Debord, Gil J Wolman. The manuscript is kept in the archives of Éliane Brau, Paris. [Archive].

1953
Manifeste. Tract signed by Sarah Abouaf, Serge Berna, Pierre-Joel Berlé, Jean-L. Brau, Leibé, Midhou Dahou, Guy-Ernest Debord, Linda, Françoise Lejare, Jean-Michel Mension, Éliane Papaï, Gil J Wolman. Published in Internationale lettriste N° 2 (Paris, février 1953). [Archive] [French].
Touchez pas aux lettristes. Tract signed by Guy Debord, Jean-Louis Brau, Mohammed Dahou, Gaetain Langlais, René Leiber, Jean-Michel Mension and Gil J Wolman, in defense of the lettrist Pierre-Joel Berlé (trespassing in the Parisian catacombs). Reprinted in Documents rélatifs à la fondation de l'Internationale Situationniste 1948-1957 (Paris 1985) 263. [Archive].
Manifeste du Groupe Algérien de l’Internationale Lettriste. Signed by Mohamed Dahou, Cheik Bin Dhine, Ait Diafer (Algeria, April 1953). The manifesto is published in Internationale lettriste N° 3 (August 1953). [Archive].
Acte additionnel à la constitution d’une Internationale lettriste. Signed by Bull-D. Brau, Guy-Ernest Debord, Gaëtan M. Langlais, Gil J Wolman. The manifesto is published in Internationale lettriste N° 3 (August 1953). [Archive].
[not published] Manifeste pour une construction de situations. September 1953. Published in Guy Debord Oeuvres (Paris 2006) 105-112.

1954
Ça commence bien! September 1954. Tract signed by Jean-Louis Bédouin, Robert Benayoun, André Breton, Adrien Dax, Charles Flamand, Georges Goldfayn, Simon Hantaï, Alain Lebreton, Gérard Legrand, Nora Mitrani, Wolfgang Paalen, Benjamin Péret, José Pierre, Judith Reigl, Jean Schuster, Anne Seghers, Toyen, François Valorbe (for the surrealist mouvement); Michèle Bernstein, Mohamed Dahou, Guy-Ernest Debord, Jacques Fillon, Gilles J Wolman (for the Lettrist International). Reprinted in Documents rélatifs à la fondation de l'Internationale Situationniste 1948-1957 (Paris 1985) 274, 276-277 and Guy Debord Oeuvres (Paris 2006) 157-160.
Et ça finit mal, une communiqué de l'internationale lettriste. 7 October 1954. Tract denouncing the withdrawal from Ça commence bien as a planned collaborative protest against the celebrations surrounding the centenary of Rimbaud's birth – of the signatures of the Parisian surrealists, who deemed the text "too Marxist" and denounced the Lettrists as Stalinists, falsifiers and publicity hounds. Reprinted in Documents rélatifs à la fondation de l'Internationale Situationniste 1948-1957 (Paris 1985) 275, 278 and Guy Debord Oeuvres (Paris 2006) 161-165.

1956
Toutes ces dames au salon!. Tract (38.4 x 37.4 cm.) by the Lettrist International and Les lèvres nues published in Brussels June 1956. The tract denounces the artists participating in an exhibition organised by the Royal Dutch-Shell: »L'Industrie du pétrole vue par les artistes«, held at the Palais de Beaux-Arts, Brussels, 2 to 14 June. The tract was signed by Michèle Bernstein, Mohamed Dahou, Guy-Ernest Debord, Jacques Fillon, Alexander Trocchi, Gilles J Wolman (for the LI), Paul Bourgoignie, Jane Graverol, Marcel Mariën, Paul Nougé and Gilbert Senecaud (for Les lèvres nues) and surrealists, lettrists, members of the group Shéma, Movimento Arte Nucleare and independent artists (Paulhan, Leiris, Bataille, Dubuffet, etc.). Reprinted in Documents rélatifs à la fondation de l'Internationale Situationniste 1948-1957 (Paris 1985) 333-335.
Ordre de boycott. Leaflet (15 x 29 cm.) inciting the boycott of the Festival de la Cité Radieuse, signed by Debord and Gil J Wolman; originally published in Paris by Internationale Lettriste, 31 July 1956. Re-issued with other manifestos under the title 'Histoire Marseillaise' in Potlatch N° 9 (November 1956) 37. Reprinted in Documents rélatifs à la fondation de l'Internationale Situationniste 1948-1957 (Paris 1985) 269.
Primo congresso mondiale degli artisti liberi. Alba (Italia) 2-9 settembre 1956 sul tema: 'Le Arti Libere e le Attivita Industriali'. Organizzato dal Laboratorio Sperimentale del Movimento Internazionale per una 'Bauhaus Immaginista'. Fondato da Asger Jorn, Piero Simondo, Enrico Baj. Direzione tecnica Giuseppe Gallizio (Laboratorio Sperimentale del Movimento Internazionale per una 'Bauhaus Immaginista' : Alba 1956). Revised version: ... sul tema: Industria e Belle Arti i due estremi di una nuova unità ...
The opening speech by Asger Jorn is reprinted in: Mirella Bandini, L'esthetique, le politique. De Cobra a l'internationale situationniste (1948-1957) (Arles 1998) 233-235. [English]
Intervention de Gil J Wolman, délégué de l’Internationale lettriste, au Congrès d’Alba, en septembre 1956. [Archive] [French] [English]
Le Mouvement International pour un Bauhaus Imaginiste présente, du 10 au 15 Décembre 1956, à Turin G.E. Debord, Constant, Jacques Fillon, Giuseppe Gallizio, Garelli, Asger Jorn, Walter Olmo, Pietro Simondo, Elena Verrone, Gil J Wolman, et le [ ] Decembre à [ ] heures, la Conférence 'Histoire de l'Internationale Lettriste [Le Mouvement International pour un Bauhaus Imaginiste : Torino 1956]. Pamphlet (31 x 21 cm.) in French and Italian sent out before the conference in Turin. Reprinted in Documents rélatifs à la fondation de l'Internationale Situationniste 1948-1957 (Paris 1985) 604.
Perché la Bauhaus è così importante? Realizzato nel "Laboratorio Sperimentale" per una Bauhaus Immaginista sotto la direzione del G. Gallizio. Alba [Bauhaus Immaginista 1956]. Leaflet (23 x 33 cm.) printed on both sides [on the backside: Cosa noi vogliamo. Cos'è la Bauhaus? ...].
La plate-forme d'Alba. Mouvement International pour un Bauhaus Imaginiste : Alba 1956. Originally appeared as a leaflet (31 x 21 cm.) published after the Bauhaus Immaginista's Congress of Free Artists in Alba and signed by Calonne, Constant, Pinot-Gallizio, Jorn, Kotik, Rada, Simondo, Sottsass Jr., Verrone and Wolman. Drawn up by Jorn together with others. Later published in: Potlatch N° 27 (2 November 1956). Reprinted in Documents rélatifs à la fondation de l'Internationale Situationniste 1948-1957 (Paris 1985) 603; also in: Pinot Gallizio e il Laboratorio Sperimentale d'Alba (Torino 1974) 91-92 and in Mirella Bandini, L'esthetique, le politique. De Cobra a l'internationale situationniste (1948-1957) (Arles 1998) 244-245. [English]

1957
Lettre ouverte aux responsables de la Triennale d’art industriel à Milan. Pamphlet (31 x 21 cm.) signed by Michèle Bernstein, Constant, Mohamed Dahou, Guy-Ernest Debord, Jacques Fillon, Giuseppe Gallizio, Asger Jorn, Ralph Rumney, Pietro Simondo, Elena Verrone, Gil J Wolman (January 1, 1957). Reprinted in Documents rélatifs à la fondation de l'Internationale Situationniste 1948-1957 (Paris 1985) 602. [Archive]

SITUATIONIST

1958
Nervenruh! Keine Experimente!. Die situationistische Internationale, München 1958. First manifesto (30 x 21 cm.) of the German section of the SI, signed by Asger Jorn and Hans Platschek, Munich. Reprinted in Pinot Gallizio e il Laboratorio Sperimentale d'Alba (Torino 1974) 108, in Mirella Bandini, L'esthetique, le politique. De Cobra a l'internationale situationniste (1948-1957) (Arles 1998) 179 and in Gruppe Spur 1958-1965. Eine Dokumentation (München 1979) 49.
Aux producteurs de l'art moderne. Tract by the French section of the SI. A single line imprinted on a piece of paper 2 cm high and 90 cm long: "Si vous êtes fatigués d'imiter des démolitions; s'il vous apparaît que les redites fragmentaires que l'on attend de vous sont dépassées avant d'être, prenez contact avec nous pour organiser à un niveau supérieur de nouveaux pouvoirs de transformation du milieu ambiant").
Nouveau théâtre d'opération dans la culture. Tract by the French section of the SI.
Adresse de l'International Situationniste à l'assemblée générale de l'Association Internationale des Critiques d'Art. Réunie le 14 avril 1958 dans l'Exposition Universelle de Bruxelles. Internationale Situationniste : Paris 1958. Pamphlet (31.3 x 22.8 cm.) signed for the several sections by Abdelhafid Khatib, Hans Platschek, Walter Korun, Guy Debord, Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio and Asger Jorn. On the backside of the pamphlet: "La Société sans classes a trouvé ses artistes". Reprinted in Pinot Gallizio e il Laboratorio Sperimentale d'Alba (Torino 1974) 109-110 and in Mirella Bandini, L'esthetique, le politique. De Cobra a l'internationale situationniste (1948-1957) (Arles 1998) 184.
Difendete la liberta ovunque. Pamphlet signed by the Italian section protesting the internment in a lunatic asylum of the painter Van Gugliemi, who has damaged a painting by Raphael by pasting the tract '' to its protective glass. Edited and printed in Alba, 4 July 1958.
Au secours de Van Guglielmi!. Paris 1958. Signed for the Situationist International by Asger Jorn. Reprinted in Pinot Gallizio e il Laboratorio Sperimentale d'Alba (Torino 1974) 109-110 and in Mirella Bandini, L'estetico il politico. Da Cobra all'Internazional Situazionista, 1948-1957. Saggi/Documenti; 7 (Roma 1977).
Manifest [Gruppe SPUR] München 1958. Pamphlet (29.8 x 20.8 cm.), signed by G. Britt, Erwin Eisch, Lothar Fischer, Heimrad Prem, D. Rempt, G. Stadler, Helmut Sturm, Hans-Peter Zimmer and Asger Jorn (dated 18 November 1958).
La déclaration d'Amsterdam. Declaration written and signed by Constant and Guy Debord, prepared for the 3rd Conference of the Situationist International in Munich (April 1959). Published in Internationale Situationniste N° 2 (December 1958) 31-32 and translated into German (November 1958).

1959
Ein kultureller Putsch - während Ihr schlaft! [Situationist International] München 1959. Tract (21 x 15 cm.) signed by Constant, Guy Debord, Asger Jorn, Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio, Maurice Wyckaert and Hans-Peter Zimmer for the Dutch, French, Danish, Italian, Belgian and German sections; distributed on the morning of the 21st with an invitation to Max Bense's tape-recorded pseudo-press conference.
Pinot Gallizio, Manifesto della pittura industriale - Per un'arte unitaria applicabile (dated August 1959). Published in Notizie : arti figurative N° 9 (October 1959). [Italian].
Difendiamo la libertà. Tract signed by Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio, Erwin Eisch, Lothar Fischer, Renée Nele, Heimrad Prem, Helmut Sturm and Hans-Peter Zimmer advocating public execration of the Spanish painter Modesto Cruixard, who, in order to increase his chances of securing the Grand Prize for painting at São Paulo, did not shrink from denouncing the communism of his compatriots Saura and Tapiés, at the risk of putting them 'in grave danger with political organizations in their country.' (November 1959).

1960
Manifeste (dated May 17, 1960). Originally appeared unsigned in Internationale situationniste N° 4 (June 1960). Later same year published in German in Spur N° 1 signed by Guy Debord, Asger Jorn, Constant, Maurice Wyckaert, Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio and Gruppe SPUR. In 1961 published in Danish in 'Nye Linjer' signed by Jørgen Nash and others. [English] [English]
Erklärung der deutschen Sektion des I.S. über den Wahnsinn. September 8, 1960. Signed by Helmut Sturm, Heimrad Prem, Lothar Fischer, Hans-Peter Zimmer, Asger Jorn and Guy Debord. Published in Spur N° 2 (November 1960) 2-7.
Resolution of the Fourth Conference of the Situationist International Concerning the Imprisonment of Alexander Trocchi. Tract denouncing the arrest and detention of the situationist Alexander Trocchi in the United States, for drug use and trafficking (September 27, 1960). Published in Internationale situationniste N° 5 (December 1960) 14. [English].
Declaration in the Name of the Fourth SI Conference to the Institute of Contemporary Arts, read in English by Maurice Wyckaert (September 28, 1960). [English].
Hands off Alexander Trocchi!. October 7, 1960. Tract (27 x 21 cm.) protesting Alexander Trocchi's arrest in the United States, signed by Guy Debord, Jacqueline de Jong and Asger Jorn, Paris. [English].

1961
Januar Manifest. [Gruppe SPUR]. Signed by Helmut Sturm, Heimrad Prem, Lothar Fischer, Dieter Kunzelmann, Hans-Peter Zimmer.
Avantgarde ist unerwünscht! (Flugschrift der Situationistische Internationale). Gruppe SPUR München 1961. Pamphlet (30 x 21 cm.), distributed at the Münchener Kammerspiele and drawn up by the German Section (Lothar Fischer, Dieter Kunzelmann, Heimrad Prem, Helmut Sturm, Hans-Peter Zimmer), the Scandinavian Section (Asger Jorn, Stefan Larsson, Katja Lindell, Jørgen Nash) and Belgian Section (Maurice Wyckaert) of the Situationist International (München 1961).
Erklärung vor dem Fernsehen. [Gruppe SPUR] 1961.
Flugblatt. [Gruppe SPUR] 1961. Pamphlet (21 x 15 cm.) by Sturm, Fischer, Zimmer, Kunzelmann and Prem denouncing the seizure of all six issues of the journal Spur and the indictment of the Spurists, countersigned by another thirty one individuals, mostly situationists (München 1961).
Unsere Antwort [Gruppe SPUR] München 1961.

1962
Critique européenne des Corps Académiques des Universités, Collèges et Instituts de Recherche de la métropole de New York et de l'aire de Cambridge-Boston; à propos du programme inadéquat que les susdits viennent de soumettre au président Kennedy et au gouverneur Rockefeller, dans le but de renverser l'absurde processus de la "défense civile" aux Etats-Unis. Mutant : Paris 1962. Printed as double-sided text in French and English. Reprinted in: The Situationist Times N° 1 (May 1962) 4. [English]
Nicht Hinauslehen! Ne pas se pencher au déhors! E pericoloso sporgesi! Danger! Do not lean out! Det är livsfarligt att luta sig ut! Niet naar buiten hangen! Paris 10-11 February 1962. Originally appeared as a leaflet (23.3 x 17.5 cm.) against the exclusion of Gruppe SPUR, signed by Jacqueline de Jong, Jörgen Nash and Ansgar Elde (Paris 13th February 1962). Published in Situationist Times N° 1 (1962). English].
Proclamation from l'Internationale Situationniste!. Published in Situationistisk Revolution N° 1 (1962) and Situationist Times N° 1 (1962). [English].
[The Struggle of the Situcratic Society. A Situationist Manifesto]. Written at Drakabygget Summer 1962 and signed by Jørgen Nash, Jens Jørgen Thorsen (Danmark), Hardy Strid, Ansgar Elde, Staffan Larsson (Sverige), Jaqueline de Jong (Holland), Ambrosius Fjord (Norge), Gordon Fazakerley (Storbritannien), Patrik O'Brian (Irland), Asger Jorn and Guy Atkins. Originally appeared, with different titles, in Situationist Times N° 1 (1962) and Drakabygget N° 2/3 (1962). [Danish] [English]
[CO-RITUS Manifesto]. Originally appeared at the Co-Ritus show held at the Gallerie Jensen (December 1962), signed by Asger Jorn, Jacqueline de Jong, Guy Atkins, Jens Jørgen Thorsen and Jørgen Nash. Published in Drakabygget N° 2/3 (1962). [Danish] [English]
The CO-RITUS Action Manifesto 1962. Signed by Strid, Nash, Kunzelmann, Fjord, Thorsen, O'Brien and Marion. Originally appeared as a leaflet to accompany the wall-painting action in Montergade (1962). [Danish] [English]
The Situationists from Drakabygget, The Spiral Labyrinth and The Situationist International. The manifesto was written to accompany the 'Facett 63' show at Malmö Townhall. The Spiral Labyrinth, the result of a collective CO-RITUS action constructed at Malmö Townhall, Sweden. The first CO-RITUS concert is held on the opening night. [English]

SECONDARY LITERATURE

Ulrich Conrads (Hrsg.)
Programme und Manifeste zur Architektur des 20. Jahrhunderts. Ullstein Bauwelt Fundamente, No. 1 (Verlag Ullstein : Berlin etc. 1964). Reprinted in 1981 by Birkhäuser Verlag. Translated in English Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-Century Architecture and published by Lund Humphries, London (1970) and MIT Press, Cambridge MA (1971, 1975).
Martin Puchner
Poetry of the Revolution. Marx, Manifestos and the Avant-Gardes (Princeton University Press : Princeton NJ 2006) 211-240. Reviewed by Hubert van den Berg for Nordlit Issue 21 (2007).
Peter Stansill and David Zane Mairowitz (eds.)
BAMN (By Any Means Necessary). Outlaw Manifestos and Ephemera 1965-70 (Harmondsworth, etc. : Penguin Books 1971; 2nd ed. Autonomedia : Brooklyn NY 1999).

GRUPPE SPUR
A printed collection of manifestos, leaflets, clippings etc. is published in Gruppe Spur 1958-1965. Eine Dokumentation / mit einem Vorwort von Otto van de Loo und Beiträgen von C. Caspari, Veit Loers, Hans M. Bachmayer und Jørgen Nash (Galerie van de Loo : München 1979; 2nd ed. 1988).
Richard Hörner
Die Gruppe SPUR. Politische Manifeste einer Künstlergruppe (SCRIPTLINE Verlag : Wörth am Rhein 2005). Contents: Das Informel; Künstlergruppen; Mitglieder der Gruppe; Manifeste der Gruppe: Das Manifest von November 1958, die Zeitschrift SPUR, Erklärung vor dem Fernseher, Avantgarde ist unerwünscht, Gaudi-Manifest von 1961; der Spurprozeß; Bundespräsidentenwahl 1964.
Roberto Ohrt (Hrsg.)
Ein kultureller Putsch. Manifeste, Pamphlete und Provokationen der Gruppe SPUR. Kleine Bücherei für Hand und Kopf; 30 (Nautilus : Hamburg 1991).