La Conspiration Dépressionniste, Volumes I-V [2009].

[La Conspiration Depréssionniste] La Conspiration Dépressionniste Volumes I-V (2003-2008). Montreal: Moult Editions / Lux Editeur, 2009. 222 p.; ill.; 31 x 14 cm.; ill. tan wrappers with text in black.

Reprints the first 5 issues of the French-Canadian underground zine La Conspiration Depréssionniste (Trans: the Depressionist Conspiration), originally issued between 2003 and 2008 in 200 (issue #1) to 525 (issue #5) copies. Also includes other ephemeral publications by the group, such as Cahiers 76439 and Bulletin Dépressionniste 1. Three additional issues of La Conspiration Depréssionniste have since been published, and are available at Le Pressier.

La Conspiration Depréssionniste is the work of a small group: Simon-Pierre Beaudet, Jean-Sebastien Coté, Matthieu Gauthier, Yannick Lacroix, Jasmin Miville-Allard and Grégory Sadetsky are members of the editorial committee, with occasional or regular contributions by several others. The periodical takes its name from the group’s belief that late capitalism deliberately imposes an ugly, unassuming landscapes as a way to control the masses. A depressing environment, they theorize, is a way to inject feelings of boredom and resignation into the working class. The depressionist conspiration, then, is the (not-so-secret) attempt to preemptively quash revolutionary aspirations through grey, monotonous urban/suburban landscapes and architecture. The writing is mordant, when not outright scandalous. 

The Situationist influence is clear. In a recent article « L’ennui est contre-révolutionnaire » : réappropriation des discours lettriste et situationniste dans la revue « La Conspiration dépressionniste » (2003-2011), Guillaume Bellehumeur demonstrates that “the Québécois journal ‘La Conspiration dépressionniste‘ appropriates the concept of ”détournement” as theorized by the Situationist International in the 1960’s, by employing it on the ideas of the very group who initiated the practice. Furthermore, it explains that the Conspiration forges the notion of ”dépressionnisme” using Guy Debord’s  ”spectacle”, thus embodying its paroxysm. Finally, building on a comparative analysis of two Essais de description psychogéographique, the paper comments at length on where the theories of both groups most predominantly overlap – namely urbanism”. 

We locate 5 OCLC copies.

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Bibliography

Bellehumeur, Guillaume. « L’ennui est contre-révolutionnaire » : réappropriation des discours lettriste et situationniste dans la revue « La Conspiration dépressionniste » (2003-2011). in @nalyses. Revue des littératures franco-canadiennes et québécoise, v13 n2 (20180817): 10-38.

Simon-Pierre Beaudet et al. La conspiration dépressionniste, volumes I-V, 2003-2008. in Recherches sociographiques, v51 n3 (2010): 503.

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A Table! [1966]

JONG, Jacqueline de. A Table!  La Louvière (Belgium): Daily-Bul, 1966. n.p. [24 p.]; ill.; 11 x 14 cm.; orange wrappers with text in black

Series of black & white drawings that allude to the encounter between a man and a woman around a table.

This is the seventh volume of the “Poquettes volantes”, edited by the Daily Bul, and is one of 1,000 numbered copies (ours no. 828)

Poesin måste göras av all!/ Poetry must be made by all! / Förändra världen! / Transform the world! [1969]

[Hunt, Ron]. Poesin måste göras av all!/ Poetry must be made by all! / Förändra världen! / Transform the world! Stockholm: Moderna Museet, 1969. 112 p,.; ill.; 26 x 19.5 cm.; ill. Green and white cover with text in black.

“This publication sees the avant-gardes of the 20s and 30s finding a partial realization in the events of May 68” (Loi 71). Includes early photomontages by Stuart and David Wise from King Mob, as well as photographs from the May 68 slogans.

In an interview published in Bricks from the Kiln #1, Ron Hunt explains:

A few years later, having written a long piece for Artforum on Constructivism, which ran across two issues, Pontus Hulten contacted me asking would I like to do a show on Constructivist theatre and film at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. To which I said ‘Yes, fine’. I had started working on it when May’68 happened and I thought ‘I don’t want to do this anymore, there’s something more interesting I could do’. So I told Hulten I wanted to redirect the whole thing to show the way the twenties avant-garde was resurfacing in Paris: in the politics, in the street theatre and particularly in the slogans that were being sprayed up everywhere […] So I whittled down all the Constructivist theatre stuff and added material on Dada and surrealism and the May’68 evenements – mainly graffiti […] The show, entitled, Poetry must be made by all! Transform the world!, went down well in Stockholm […] The gallery itself was a also a space for people to gather and discuss revolutionary ideas. The Black Panthers were there, they were in exile in Stockholm. There was also a left-wing bookshop in Stockholm, it was another of Hulten’s ideas to ask them in and to let them set up in the middle of the show. There were lectures on May’68 and theatre groups etc. I designed the poster for the exhibition with a detourned Brigitte Bardot and Hulten designed the catalogue (I’d also done a free broadside called Interview with B.B., which I was fond of). […] After Stockholm, the exhibition went to Kunstverein in Munich, where they took Hulten’s idea that they should ask people to respond to the show. So they asked the local art college to come in and apparently they made a hell of a mess […] From there it went to Vancouver, where I was teaching, although it had nothing to do with me […] It’s become of a but of a cult now, which is odd. The first time I knew it was resurfacing again was the event in Zurich (Poetry will be made by all! at LUMA Foundation, Zurich, 2014] […]” (pp.10-17)

 

Ah!…Comme elles savent bien y faire / La Revolution continue!

Federation des Comites Ouvriers-Etudiants. [Ah!…Comme elles savent bien y faire / La Revolution continue!]. n.p. [France]: n.p., n.d. [ca. 1969]. 4 p.; ill.; 18 x 26 cm.; black ink on white stock.

Detourned comic in the Situationist tradition. While nothing is known about this group, it came to the attention of the Situationists, who reprint an article from the journal Minute in Internationale Situationniste no.12, p.87: “«Belle mentalité!» Conçue à partir d’une bande dessinée publicitaire, c’est la première page d’un de ces tracts dont nos lycées sont journellement inondés. Celui-ci est un mélange délirant et détonnant d’anarchisme infantile et de pornographie enragée. Il est publié par une certaine «Fédération des Comités ouvriers-étudiants de la banlieue sud de Paris» dont les slogans affichés sont « Crève salope » (à l’adresse de « papa, monsieur le professeur, monsieur le curé ») etc., qu’on nous excuse, « Ne nous laissons plus enc… ». Même si les lycéens ont assez de bon sens pour traiter par le mépris de telles aberrations, on se demande qui finance la coûteuse impression de ces torchons. Et surtout quelle autorité peut prétendre exercer dans les établissements scolaires un ministre de l’Éducation nationale qui les tolère. »”

We would be grateful to our readers if they could help in our efforts to identify the 5 men shown on p.1.

We locate a single OCLC copy at Yale’s Beinecke Library.

De la Misère en milieu féministe ou la pouffiasserie à visage humain [1977]

[Les Affranchies du Vieux Monde]. De la Misère en milieu féministe ou la pouffiasserie à visage humain. n.p. [Paris, France]: Les Emissions des Femmes, November 1977. 31 p.; ill.; 14 x 25 cm; printed black cover with text in pink.

Modeled after  Mustapha Khayati’s famed De la Misère en milieu étudiant (Strasbourg: AFGES, 1966), this Situ-inspired pamphlet offers a violent attack on identity politics in the aftermath of May 1968. The text opens with: “Nous pouvons affirmer sans grand risque de nous tromper que la femme « émancipée » est, à l’encontre du policier, du prêtre et de l’étudiant, l’être le plus universellement adulé” (1977), which is an echo to Khayati’s “Nous pouvons affirmer, sans grand risque de nous tromper, que l’étudiant en France est, après le policier et le prêtre, l’être le plus universellement méprisé” (1966). Overall, the authors, argue that so-called “liberation movements” alienate individuals by confining them to new roles within the capitalist system.

Excerpts of this text are available here: http://golemfuturo.blogspot.com/2011/11/de-la-misere-en-milieu-feministe.html . Because the full text isn’t available online, we have reproduced it in it entirety below.

Referenced in Marcolini (Le mouvement situationnistE) p. 292 and Guy Debord : un art de la guerre p. 220.

We locate 3 copies on OCLC (IISG, BNF, Nanterre).

Note: For legal reasons, we had no choice but to censor p.16. 

Ron Hunt – Interview with BB [1969]

[HUNT, Ron]. [Interview with BB] [aka New tremors are running through the atmosphere, all we need is the courage to face them] [aka Bash Street magazine #1]. n.p. [London]: n.p. [Bricks from the Klin], n.d. [2015]. 1 p. (two-sided); ill.; 43.5 x 26.5 cm.

Facsimile reprint of the 1969 free broadside by Ron Hunt, which relates to the Poetry must be made by all! / Transform the world! exhibition that was held in the Moderna Museet, Stockholm in 1969. Ron Hunt explains: “The gallery itself was a space for people to gather and discuss revolutionary ideas, which was Hulten’s idea…The Black Panthers were there, they were in exile in Stockholm. There was also a left wing bookshop in Stockholm, it was another of Hulten’s ideas to ask them in and to let them set up in the middle of the show. There were lectures on May’68 and theatre groups etc. I designed the poster for the exhibition with a detourned Brigitte Bardot and Hulten designed the catalogue. (I’d also done a free broadsheet called Interview with BB, which I was fond of.)” (Interview with Ron Hunt in Bricks from the Kiln #1, December 2015).

The broadside consists of a detourned image of Brigitte Bardot on one side, and a fictional interview with the actress (where she discusses May 68 and the Situationists) as well as a comic strip about unruly children on the other side.

We locate no OCLC copy, though there is a copy in the collection of Andrew Burgin (see Tanya Loi, We Make Revolution in Our Spare Time: The history and legacy of the Situationist International, 2019).

Situationistisk Revolution 2 – Elendigheden i studentens milieu [1968]

[Situationistisk Internationale]. Situationistisk Revolution 2 – Elendigheden i studentens milieu. Randers (Denmark): S.I., November 1968. 48 p.; ill.; 21 x 14.5 cm.; ill. Cream wrappers with text in black

Second (and rarest) issue of Situationistisk Revolution, the journal of the Scandinavian section of the SI. Bernstein, Debord, Khayati, Vaneigem and Vienet are listed as members of the editorial committee, with J.V. Martin as editor-in-chief. This issue largely consists in a translation of De La Misere en Milieu Etudiant into Danish as Elendigheden i studentens milieu (p.5-31). However, other items are included: an original collage by J.V. Martin (p.32), reproduction of Situationist broadsides (p.33-36), a translation of Definition Minimum des Organisations Revolutionnaires and several leaflets from the CMDO (p.37-45), a list of publications by the Scandinavian section of the SI (p.46), and a translation of Debord’s Theses sur la Revolution culturelle (p.47-48).

See below for past blog entries on other issues/items related to Situationistik Revolution.

• Situationistisk Revolution. Randers, 1962. A subscription leaflet announcing the release of the first issue
• Situationistisk Revolution 1. Randers, 1962. The first issue of the periodical.
• NY-Irrealisme (Specialudgave Situationistisk Revolution 2). Randers, 1967. A special issue published ahead of the “actual” issue 2. It serves as a catalogue for a second ‘manifestation of the Situationist International‘ held at Gallery Vestergade
• Situationistisk Revolution 2. Randers, 1968. The second issue of the periodical. Featured here.
• Supplement til Situationistisk Revolution 2. Randers, 1969. This supplement to issue 2 provides an illustrated account of the May 68 riots.
• Situationistisk Revolution 3. Copenhagen, 1970. The third and last issue of the periodical.
• Situationistik Revolution 1-3. Copenhagen, 2013. A facsimile reprint of Situationistisk Revolution 1, NY-Irrealisme, and Situationistisk Revolution 3 (Situationistisk Revolution 2 and Supplement til Situationistisk Revolution 2 are not reproduced)

Scarce, with no copies found on OCLC (librairies only own issue 1 & 3)

Constant – Amsterdam (1961)

CONSTANT (Nieuwenhuys). Constant – Amsterdam. Bochum: Stadtische Kunstgalerie, 1961. n.p. [72 p.]; ill.; 26 x 26 cm.; ill. black wrappers with text in grey.

Catalog of Constant’s exhibition at Stadtische Galerie in Bochum, held from March 4 to April 9, 1961. includes a list of 60 exhibited works, and an introductory essay on New Babylon by Constan (New Babylon: das experimentelle Denk-und Spielmodell/New Babylon: the experimental think and play model). Text in German.

A superb large format catalog. See https://stichtingconstant.nl/exhibition/constant-amsterdam

Ralph Rumney – The Leaning Tower of Venice [1959-60]

RUMNEY, Ralph. The Leaning Tower of Venice, Pt. 1. (in ARK 24: The Journal of the Royal College of Art). London, Autumn 1959. ca. 64 p. [48 numbered]; 21.5 x 27 cm.; ill. Oranger cover with holes (Fontana)

RUMNEY, Ralph. The Leaning Tower of Venice, Pt. 2. (in ARK 25: The Journal of the Royal College of Art). London, Spring 1960. ca. 64 p. [48 numbered]; 21.5 x 27 cm.; ill. B&W wrappers with text in black

RUMNEY, Ralph. The Leaning Tower of Venice, Pt. 3. (in ARK 26: The Journal of the Royal College of Art). London, Summer 1960. ca. 64 p. [52 numbered]; 21.5 x 27 cm.; ill. Silver wrappers with text in black

Ralph Rumney’s The Leaning Tower of Venice is the account of the author’s psychogeographic journey through La Serenissima. It consists of 128 unique photographs (shot by Rumney) overlaid with text, leveraging the technique of collage and detournement.

Initially, the innovative work was to be published in the first issue of Internationale Situationniste in 1958. However, Rumney missed the editorial deadline (see Correspondence with Debord from March 1958) which ultimately led to his exclusion from the Situationist International. The latter was announced in the inaugural issue of the SI’s journal, through a ‘fake obituary’ and account of the project’s ‘failure’ entitled “Venice has vanquished Ralph Rumney”Venice has vanquished Ralph Rumney”.

It took over 40 years for this important work to be published in book form. Silverbridge issued a limited edition of The Leaning Tower of Venice in 2002. The book is based on the photographs taken at the exhibition On the Passage of a Few People Through a Rather Brief Moment in Time: The Situationist International, 1957-72, held at the ICA, London, in 1989.

The Museum del Camminare in Venice has made the full text (high-quality scans) available here.