Brief interlude – Why I do what I do, and how you can help

I thought I would make a brief interlude and explain my project and how you can help.

My objective is simple: acquire, curate and make available rare or hard-to-find Situationist or Situationist-inspired texts. While Europeans (through the International Institute of Social History) have easy access to such material, it is more difficult in the United States – despite excellent holdings at the Labadie (Michigan), Yale and the Tamiment/Wagner (NYU). Once my work is done – in 2,5,10 or 15 years – I will gift my collection to an institution that 1) has a policy of open readership (i.e., anybody is welcomed to access their holdings) and 2) has a project to digitize texts that are not otherwise available online

I have been accused of engaging in commodity fetishism. Ultimately, however, this is about the best way to preserve and share texts that are critical to understanding the social and political history of the 20th century. This blog constitutes a first step.

How can you help? In several ways:1) provide a guest entry – I will feature a rare/unusual item you’d like to share with this blog’s readership; 2) share comments – improve the quality of the bibliographic information provided on this blog; 3) contact me with offers – if you have rare/unusual Situ or pro/post-situ texts that I could borrow or buy from you, please reach out

Thanks again for reading this blog

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Bilan du Situationnisme [1996]

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Internationale Lettriste, Internationale Situationniste, Maurice Lemaitre, Situationniste

Lemaitre, Maurice. Bilan du Situationnisme. Paris: Centre de Creativite, 1996. 15 p.; 21 x 14.5 cm.; pink wrappers with text in black.

Brief (4 p.) text by Lemaitre against the Internationale Situationniste, originally published in the periodical La Lettre, no.38, January 1982.

This separate reprint was strictly limited to 100 copies, 10 of which signed by the author. This copy bears the number 5 and is signed by Lemaitre

Not seen in the trade, with 3 copies on OCLC (BNF, Iowa, Oxford) – likely of the non-signed edition.

Cahier pour un Paysage a Inventer

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Asger Jorn, Gaston Miron, Guy Debord, Internationale Situationniste, Patrick Straram, Quebec

Straram, Patrick. Cahier pour un Paysage a Inventer. n.p. [Montreal]: n.p., May 1960. 103 p.; 26.5 x 21 cm; white cover with text in orange and black

First and only issue of this Situationist-influenced, Quebec-based periodical. Produced by Patrick Straram following his expatriation to Canada, this publication includes articles, poems and critical texts by Quebec writers (Gaston Miron, Marie-France O’Leary, Paul-Marie Lapointe, Gilles Hénault, Serge Garant, Marcel Dubé…) and members of the Internationale Situationniste (Asger Jorn, Gilles Ivain, Guy-Ernest Debord…).

Born in Paris in 1934, Patrick Straram was a member of the Internationale Lettriste and a close (and early) friend of Guy Debord and Ivan Chtcheglov. He left the I.L. in 1954 when he fled to Canada to avoid military service. He remained close to Debord for several, as attested by their warm and friend letters to each other.

This association copy belonged to Gaston Miron (1928-1996), one of the poets featured in the Cahier. Miron signed his name on the front cover and heavily annotated his brief text (“Notes d’un homme d’ici”). Miron was an important poet, writer and editor of Quebec’s quiet revolution, as well as a highly visible member of Quebec’s nationalist and independence movements.

Not found in the trade with only three copies on OCLC, all in Canada (Sherbrooke, Montreal, UQAM)

Perspective de Modifications Conscientes de l’Activite Revolutionnaire

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Federation Anarchiste, Guy Debord, Internationale Situationniste, Rene Berthier

Boulard, Raoul. Perspective de Modifications Conscientes de l’Activite Revolutionnaire. Paris: Le Jargon Libre, November 1981. 1 folded sheet ([6] p.) ; 30 x 66 cm; yellow stock with text in black

This relatively unknown text revisits and critiques Guy Debord’s Perspectives de Modifications Conscientes dans la Vie Quotidienne. The author is a member of the Federation Anarchiste.

Rare in the trade with three copies on OCLC (Oregon, BDIC-Nanterre, and CIRA)

PS: Despite what OCLC states, Rene Berthier has stated that he is NOT the co-author (or pseudonymous writer) of this text.

Chinois, Encore un Effort pour Etre Revolutionnaires… / Mao par Lui-Meme [FILM SYNOPSIS]

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China, Detournement, Internationale Situationniste, Rene Vienet, Situationist

Vienet, Rene. Chinois, Encore un Effort pour Etre Revolutionnaires… / Mao par Lui-Meme [FILM SYNOPSIS]. n.p. [Paris]: n.p., Film des Iles, n.d. [1977]. 20 p.; ill.; 21 x 29.5 cm; ill. double-sided cover with text in white.

The text synopsis for Rene Vienet’s  film Chinois Encore Un Effort pour Etre Revolutionnaire (120 min; color; 35mm), co-directed by Ji Qing-ming and Al. Perreault, and the short film Mao par Lui-meme (26 min.; color; 35mm), co-directed by Wu Xing-ming and Francis Deron, both from 1977. Both films were selected for the 1977 Cannes Festival.

Contents includes: an introduction to Chinois Encore un Effort…by Edwin Hiu Aine, a biography of Rene Vienet, a report of documentary research, the publications of the Bibliotheque Asiastique, an introduction to Mao par Lui-Meme, a brief history of the PRC, and a brief essay on contemporary China by Rene Vienet.

This is a scarce document, not available in the trade with a single copy found in OCLC (Bibliotheque Nationale de France)

Rapport sur la Construction de Situations et sur les Conditions de l’Organisation et de l’Action dans la Tendance Situationniste Internationale 2

Tags

Guy Debord, Internationale Situationniste

Agence pour l’Auto-Suppression du Proletariat. Rapport sur la Construction de Situations et sur les Conditions de l’Organisation et de l’Action dans la Tendance Situationniste Internationale 2. Lille: Imprimerie Speciale, June 1977. Single ill. sheet folded in 8, (70 x 49.5 cm. unfolded); Brown ink on cream stock

A response to Debord’s Rapport sur la Construction des Situations, published 20 years earlier (June 1957), this text offers an early criticism of the application of Situationist ideas.

Rare in the trade ; single OCLC copy at the Centre International de Recherches sur l’Anarchisme (CIRA) in Switzerland

 

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

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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

The Return of the Long Hair

Morea, Ben. The Return of the Long Hair. New York: Boo-Hooray, 2014. 1 printed sheet; 31 x 23 cm.; two-color risograph with text in black. Signed by the artist.

Facsimile of the original leaflet. Available only in pre-order copies of the catalogue published in tandem with Opposition: Black Mask, Ben Morea, and U.A.W.M.F., an exhibition mounted at
 Boo-Hooray from January 16 – February 14. Limited edition; likely 100 copies.

 

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

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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.”