These are Situationist Times! [2019]

PRESTSAETER, Ellef (Ed.). These are Situationist Times! An Inventory of Reproductions, Deformations, Modifications, Derivations, and Transformations. Oslo: Torpedo Press, 2019. 352 p.; ill.; 22 x 28 cm.; heavily illustrated throughout.

Book released as part of These are Situationist Times!, a project of Torpedo Press in close collaboration with Jacqueline de Jong. The project consists of:

• A digitization of all issues of Situationist Times by Monoskop
• A digital interface by The Scandinavian Institute for Computational Vandalism, retracing the magazine’s history through a series of video interviews with Jacqueline de Jong
• A series of exhibitions – Jacqueline De Jong & The Situationist Times: Same Player Shoots Again! – curated by Ellef Prestsæter in collaboration with Torpedo and Jacqueline de Jong. These include
  • Torpedo Books, Oslo, 11 May-2 Sep 2018
  • Konsthall Malmö, 15 Sep 2018-13 Jan 2019
  • Museum Jorn, Silkeborg, Denmark, 31 Aug-1 Dec 2019.
• and finally a book, hereby presented, edited by Ellef Prestsæter. The table of contents can be found here.

The beautifully illustrated volume includes numerous reproductions from the original Situationist Times magazine (#1-6), but the highlight is the last section on the recently rediscovered, unfinished seventh issue: The “Pinball issue” (ca. 1973). Included are a “selection of materials assembled for the Pinball Issue of the Situationist Times, including original photographs by Hans Brinkman, previous unpublished essays by Brinkman and the psychologist Joost Mathijsen, an inventory of pinball machines in Amsterdam, books and flyers, clippings from magazines and newspapers, as well as correspondence with prospective collaborators” (p.259)

The book includes commissioned contributions by Éric Alliez, Ruth Baumeister, Christophe Bourseiller, Larry D. Busbea, Eric C. H. de Bruyn, Matthew Fuller, Rodolphe Gasché, Dennis Göttel, Institute for Computational Vandalism, Jakob Jakobsen, Karen Kurczynski, João Pedro Leão, İz Öztat, Juliette Pollet, Ellef Prestsæter, Margriet Schavemaker, Sean Snyder, McKenzie Wark. Also included are historical texts by
Roland Barthes, Hans Brinkman, Max Bucaille, Friedrich Wolfram Heubach, Jacqueline de Jong, Asger Jorn, Friedrich Kittler, Joost Mathijsen, Piero Simondo, Gianni-Emilio Simonetti, Alexander Trocchi, Paolo Virno, Bernd Jürgen Warneken

Pictures from the Torpedo website, where copies can be ordered here