Signes Graves sur les Eglises de l’Eure et du Calvados [1964]

Jorn, Asger. Signes Gravés sur les Eglises de l’Eure et du Calvados. Copenhagen: Borgen, 1964. 327 [5] p.; ill.; 28 x 21 cm.; ill b&w wrappers with text in black and white. Photographs by Gerard Franceschi. 1,000 copies printed on Griffin Finish paper.

Second volume of the “Bibliotheque d’Alexandrie”, edited by the Scandinavian Institute of Comparative Vandalism. The heavily illustrated volume is a study of Viking’s “detournement” of Normandy’s Churches during the Middle Ages.

Scholar Karen Kurcynzski explains: “In 1964 Jorn edited a book on Norman church graffiti, Signs Engraved on the Churches of Eure and Calvados with photos of graffiti carved into the walls of churches in the Medieval period. The book related to Jorn’s Scandinavian Institute for Comparative Vandalism, founded 1961, which attempted to demonstrate by photographing repeated motifs in ancient and Medieval art throughout Europe, that the visual culture of the nomadic Scandinavian “vandals,” usually perceived as mere barbarians, did not derive from southern Europe but in many cases actually inspired European visual forms. Jorn’s conception of “vandalism” retains the double signification of both a historic ethnic group and the general value of destructive tendencies in culture. Jorn writes in Signs Engraved that rather than simple destruction, graffiti asserts a common human “need,” that of expression as a fundamental human activity. He further argues that, because the Medieval church held valuable objects (such as reliquaries) outside of social circulation, anonymous graffiti on the church walls expressed a popular protest against the isolation of artistic objects from everday life. He thus characterizes graffiti as an art form that defies the institutionalization of art and its removal from common society”(“Expression as Vandalism: Asger Jorn’s Modifications, https://situationistlibrary.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/kurcynski-expression-vandalism-jorn.pdf)

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La Carte d’Apres Nature [January 1954]

[Internationale Lettriste] La Carte d’Apres Nature. Bruxelles (Belgium): Rene Magritte, January 1954. n.p. [32 p.]; ill.; 21 x 14 cm.; light cream wrappers with text in red and black.

 

This special issue of the “Carte d’Apres Nature” review includes responses to the question: “Quel sens donnez-vous au mot poesie?” (In English: “What does the ‘poetry’ mean for you?”). Respondents include Rene Char, Louis Scutenaire, Paul Nouge, Marel Marien, Paul Magritte..and the Internationale Lettriste. The Lettriste answer is signed “Mohamed Dahou, Henry de Béarn, Guy-Ernest Debord, Gilles Ivain, Gaëtan M. Langlais, Gil J Wolman”

The full text in French reads as follows: “La poésie a épuisé ses derniers prestiges formels. Au-delà de l’esthétique, elle est toute dans le pouvoir des hommes sur leurs aventures. La poésie se lit sur les visages. Il est donc urgent de créer des visages nouveaux. La poésie est dans la forme des villes. Nous allons donc en construire de bouleversantes. La beauté nouvelle sera DE SITUATION, c’est-à-dire provisoire et vécue. Les dernières variations esthétiques ne nous intéressent que pour la puissance influentielle que l’on peut y mettre ou y découvrir. La poésie pour nous ne signifie rien d’autre que l’élaboration de conduites entièrement neuves et les moyens de s’y passionner.” (see https://debordiana.noblogs.org/tag/ivan-chtcheglov-dit-gilles-ivain/)

The full English text reads as follows: “Poetry has exhausted the last of its formal prestiges. Beyond simple aesthetics, poetry consists entirely of human potential. It is written on the faces of adventures and in the form of cities. Nothing is more urgent than the creation of new faces and construction through upheaval. The new beauty will be SITUATIONAL, that is to say fugitive and lived. The latest artistic variations interest us only for the potential influence that might be found within them. To us, poetry means the elaboration of absolutely new conducts, and the means of making them passionate.” (see http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/presitu/potlatch5.html)

We locate 8 copies on OCLC

Maurice Wyckaert – Galerie Van de Loo [1961]

[Wyckaert, Maurice]. Olbilder – Maurice Wyckaert. Munchen: Galerie Van de Loo, n.d. [1961]. n.p. [12 p.]; ill.; 23 x 24 cm.; yellow wrappers with text in black.

Catalog of Maurice Wyckaert’s exhibition at Galerie Van de Loo in Munich, held form March 23 to April 26, 1961. Includes a brief introduction by C. Caspari.

This is the catalog of the exhibition that led to Wyckaert’s exclusion from the Situationist International (in April 1961). The painter’s departure occured “following an attempt to meddle in the SI’s affairs by the art dealer Otto Van de Loo, who had hoped to influence its politics by making threats and promises to several situationists with whom he had personal relations” (http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/chronology/1961.html).

Wyckaert is best known for having been chosen to read the Declaration in the Name of the Fourth SI Conference to the Institute of Contemporary Arts, at the Institute of Contemporary Arts on 28 September 1960. Often viewed as a relatively “minor” figure in the SI, Wyckaert’s works and contributions were brought to light in Gérard Berréby & Danielle Orhan (éds), L’Œuvre peint (1947-1996). Paris: Allia, 2012.

La Carte d’Apres Nature [1954]

[Internationale Lettriste] La Carte d’Apres Nature. Bruxelles (Belgium): Rene Magritte, June 1954. n.p. [24 p.]; 21 x 14 cm.; light cream wrappers with text in red and black.

This special issue of the “Carte d’Apres Nature” review includes thirty-nine responses to the question: “La pensée nous éclaire-t-elle, et nos actes, avec la même indifférence que le soleil, ou quel est notre espoir et quelle est sa valeur?” (In English: “Does thought enlighten both us and our actions with the same indifference as the sun, or what is our hope, and what is its value?”). Respondents include Noël Arnaud, Paul Colinet, R. Guiette, M. Havrenne, Th. Koenig, J. Lacomblez, P. Magritte, C. Malva, M. Mariën, J. Noiret, J. Pfeiffer, G. et M. Piqueray, L. Scutenaire, H. Senecaut, G. Van Bruaene… and the Internationale lettriste.

The Lettriste answer is signed “Henry de BEARN, Andre CONORD, Mohamed DAHOU, Guy-Ernest DEBORD, Jacques FILLON, Patrick STRARAM, Gil J. WOLMAN” and dated May 5, 1954. It concludes boldly with “very little is to be expected of the strength and power of the mind.” The full text in French can be found here, while an English language translation is located here.

We locate 8 copies on OCLC

Der Deutsche Gedanke [1963]

Internationale Situationniste (Ed. Raoul Vaneigem). Der Deutsche Gedanke: Organ der Situationistischen Internationale fur Mitteleuropa. Bruxelles (Belgium): n.p., April 1963. 40 p.; ill.; 16 x 24 cm.; gold metallic wrappers with text in black.

First and only issue of this German-language periodical published by the Internationale Situationniste and geared at expanding Situationist ideas in Central Europe. Raoul Vaneigem is listed as the editor.

Opens with a lengthy quote from Theodor Adorno’s “Minima Moralia”, and includes the following texts – a mix of original content and translation of existing articles from the French review of the movement: “The Next Step” (Kotanyi), “Formulary for a New Urbanism” (Chtcheglov); “Basic Program of the Bureau of Unitary Urbanism” (Kotányi & Vaneigem); “The Bad Days Will End”; “The Role of the SI”; “Priority Communication”; “Basic Banalities (part 1)” (Vaneigem); “Ideologies, Classes, and the Domination of Nature”; “All the King’s Men” (Debord).

In total, 1000 copies were printed. A full translation can be found here: http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/si/dg.html

We locate 5 OCLC, copies at Yale, Columbia, the Getty, Pompidou (Paul Destribats collection) and the National German Library.