The Antinational Situationist No. 1 / Den Antinationale Situationist No.1 [1974]

[Bauhaus Situationiste] KROJER, Tom; THORSEN, Jens Jorgen (Eds.). The Antinational Situationist No. 1 / Den Antinationale Situationist No.1. Våxtorp, Sweden / Copenhagen, Denmark: Bauhaus Situationiste, n.d. [1974]. n.p. [30 p.]; ill.; 21 x 29.5 cm.; yellow screen-printed wrappers with text in black

The Antinational Situationist – sub-titled “Tidsskrift for almen kreativitet mode stater, uniformer, autoriteter og generaler” (“periodical for common creativity against states, uniforms, authorities, popes and generals”) – was a bilingual (English/Danish) periodical published by the Bauhaus Situationiste. Its editors, Tom Krojer and Jens Jorgen Thersen, had big ambitions: “We are happy to present you the first issue of our periodical for common creativity, ‘The Antinational Situationist’. As you will see, this first issue is concentrated on the collective creativity, which according to our opinion is the threshold of a completely new phase in culture. The First Situationist International, based in Paris, is completely dead now….Therefore the Antinational Situationist movement is founded, and this is marked by bringing the outlines for the manifesto of the founding of this movement. In Issue 2 of this periodical we hope to be able to publish the signed and ratified manifesto.” (p.1). However, only a single issue of this beautiful screen-printed magazine would ever be released.

This inaugural issue includes a wide range of contributions (all in English and Danish)
(1) “Beyond The Crisis Of Abstraction And The Abstract Break With That Crisis: The SI”, by former American SI member Jon Horelick. The article offers a harsh critique of Debord and Sanguinetti’s La véritable scission dans l’Internationale.
(2) “Is this Metaville? A project for creative play” by Jens Jorgen Thorsen, in collaboration with Susanne Ussing and Carsten Hoff. The article brings backs and builds on the notions of architecture and play, as expressed in the writings and Constant and the early SI.
(3) “The Antinational of the Fourth World: Divided we Stand” by Jens Jorgen Thorsen. This is the draft Manifesto of Antinational Situationist, which is co-signed by Jorgen Nash, J.V. Martin, Patrick O’Brien (i.e., Asger Jorn), Tom Krojen, Ambrosius Fjord (Jorn’s horse), Andres King, Yoshio Nakajima, Liza Menue, Heimad Prem, Mette Aarre, Heinz Freitag, Liz Zwick, Novi Maruni, and Helmut Strum.
(4) “My pocket history of collective painting” by Jens Jorgen Thorsen. This discusses the art of collective painting including Cobra’s practices
(5) “Collective painting statement” by Tom Krojer and J.J. Thorsen.
(6) “All culture is collective” by J.V. Martin, an apology of collective creation and criticism of individual art (“DOWN WITH ART WHICH IS SELF-CONTENTED AND EGOCENTRIC, WHICH CONTEMPLATES ITS OWN NAVEL!”)
Finally, the last two pages list publications by the Bauhaus Situationiste and its members

Texts (2), (3) and (6) are reproduced in Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen & Jakob Jakobsen’s Cosmonauts of the Future: Texts from the Situationist Movement in Scandinavia and Elsewhere (Copenhagen: Nebula and Brooklyn: Autonomedia, 2015.

We locate a single copy of this rare publication on OCLC (Princeton).

Erklæring vedrorende processen mod internationale situationister I Den Tyske Forbundsrepublik [1962]

[Internationale Situationniste] BERNSTEIN, Michele; MARTIN, J.V.; TROCCHI, Alexander; VANEIGEM, Raoul. [Déclaration sur les procès contre l’Internationale Situationniste en Allemagne Fédérale] Erklæring vedrorende processen mod internationale situationister I Den Tyske Forbundsrepublik. n.p. [Randers, Denmark]: n.p. [Internationale Situationniste], n.d. [1962]. 3 p.; 21 x 34 cm.; black ink on cream stock.

In November 1961, Gruppe SPUR published the sixth issue of their periodical, which was promptly seized by authorities. Soon thereafter, in the first trial of artists in Germany since the Third Reich, the group was prosecuted for “pornography” and “religious defamation”. Though the Situationist group excluded Gruppe SPUR in February 1962, it continued to showcase solidarity towards its members. In May 1962, the leaflet “Déclaration sur les procès contre l’Internationale Situationniste en Allemagne Fédérale” was published in Paris. Its last paragraph read “We ask that all the sections of the SI translate and publish this declaration; and that our comrades adhere to our perspectives and distribute information about this affair as widely as possible. We ask everyone to support Uwe Lausen as soon as possible, as much though public declarations that could be useful during his trial as through forms of practical aid that could help the continuation of the SI’s activities in Germany” (p.3).

The following leaflet therefore comes in direct response to this ask. In it, the Scandinavian section of the S.I. offers a translation of “Declaration” into Danish. It is unclear how widely this leaflet was distributed, though – this is the first copy we encounter. As far as we are aware, no bibliography mentions its existence. Readers are encouraged to reach out to us should they have more details to contribute.

We locate no copy of this rare leaflet on OCLC or in the trade. A facsimile of the (much more common) French original can be found here, while an English translation can be found here

I Partiti Non Hanno Piu Niente Da Dirci [1966]

PIERINI, Franco. “I Partiti Non Hanno Piu Niente Da Dirci” in L’Europeo no. 1101. Milano: L’Europeo, 15 December 1966. 98 p.; ill.; 27 x 37 cm.; ill. wrappers.

Article on the Strasbourg scandal in the Italian magazine L’Europeo (pp. 26-31) illustrated by a series of photographs by Gianfranco Moroldo, one of which captures a young Mustapha Khayati. Though rarely kind to journalists, The S.I. was particularly pleased by this article. In a letter to Mario Perniola dated 26 December 1966, Debord describes it as “very honest and sympathetic, despite the “objective information” aspect of the end” (Correspondance Vol. III, p. 187). He respected its author sufficiently to have him included among the recipients of the first issue of Internazionale Situazionista (letter to the Italian section dated 29 August 1969 in Correspondance Vol. IV, p.108). When Sanguinetti considered giving an interview to the press in 1972, Debord recommended that he reach out to Franco Pierini at L’Europeo (Correspondance Vol. IV, p.526). Finally, in 1972, Raspaud & Voyer describe it as “excelent, clear, and intelligent” (l’Internationale Situationniste : protagonistes / chronologie / bibliographie (avec un index des noms insultés), pp. 141)

Raspaud & Voyer 141. Trespeuch 32.

Présent fait aux lecteurs de Lire Debord, traitant des curiosités et difficultés rencontrées dans l’ouvrage [2022]

MERCIER, Luc. Présent fait aux lecteurs de Lire Debord, traitant des curiosités et difficultés rencontrées dans l’ouvrage. n.p. [Luc Mercier]: n.p.[France], 22 September 2022. Comb-bound pamphlet. 49 p.; 21 x 30 cm.; black ink on plain white stock

Edited by Guy Emmanuel and Laurence LeBras, Lire Debord (Paris: L’Echappée, 2016) made available to readers several never-published texts, notes and documents by Guy Debord. Scholarly articles by Anselm Jappe, Greil Marcus, Tom McDonough, and Patrick Marcolini, among others, helped contextualize and bring into light this new original content.

While Lire Debord provides a rich repository of primary and second material, and despite the editors’ best intentions, it is not without gaps, errors, and misinterpretations. Mercier’s Présent fait aux lecteurs de Lire Debord, traitant des curiosités et difficultés rencontrées dans l’ouvrage provides readers a rich set of additions and corrections. Among those are details about topics like the Fronde (a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653), Orson Welles, and some aspects of Debord’s cinema. There are many others

The author of this brochure is no stranger to Debord and the S.I. more broadly. Born in 1954, Mercier is perhaps best known for having played a key role in the dissemination of Situationist material in the 1980s and 1990s. For instance, he circulated Le Port-Folio Situationniste (Paris: Le Lundi au soleil, 1993), a two-volume compilation of texts by the S.I. Mercier also published a translation of texts by the Italian section (Paris: Contre-Moule, 1988), and a translation of documents by various sections of the S.I. (Archives situationnistes Volume 1: Documents traduits (1958-1970). Paris: Contre-Moule / Paralleles, 1997). The latter features the first translation into French of texts by Gruppe SPUR. Other Situationist-related texts by Mercier include Le vraisemblable sur l’assassinat de Gerard Lebovici (Paris, 1984) — which Debord lauded — and Apostrophe à l’auteur de « Guy Debord ou la beauté du négatif (Paris, 1998). Mercier was also a founding member of Comité irradiés de tous les pays, unissons-nous, an anti-nuclear collective influenced by Situationist ideas (their manifesto can be found here), but would depart a year later as the group split into two opposing factions

If interested in acquiring Présent fait aux lecteurs… please get in touch with us, and we will connect you with Luc Mercier.

[11/29 update: adding links to the text and errata file below

lire-debord-1Download

erratum-1-1Download

Adages / Vaneigem & Stas [2022]

VANEIGEM, Raoul; STAS, André. Adages. Brussels: La Pierre d’Alun, 21 March 2022. 64 p.; 11 x 14 cm; ill. Cover with text in gold, housed in a black slipcase embossed with gold lettering.

This artist book includes aphorisms by Vaneigem and collages by artist André Stas. It was printed in 500 copies. An additional third copies, numbered and signed by the artists, feature an original print by Stas and are housed in a black slipcase embossed with gold lettering. Ours is copy number 9.

Chansons du proletariat révolutionnaire: Paroles et musiques [1996]

Chansons du proletariat révolutionnaire: Paroles et musiques. Paris: Editions musicales En avant comme avant, 1996. 7 loosely inserted sheets, each 42 x 30 cm and folded to 21 x 30 cm, housed in a 22 x 31 cm. white portfolio.

This portfolio was published and distributed in a few Parisian bookstores in 1996. It served as a tribute to the first (and only) volume of the LP Pour en Finir avec le Travail: Chansons du Proletariat Révolutionnaire, produced by Jacques le Glou and released in 1974. 2 years later, in 1998, Chansons… would be re-issued in CD format by EPM. Song renditions, as well as extensive information on this production are available at http://namaste-baba.blogspot.com/2012/01/pour-en-finir-avec-le-travail-great.html

We locate two OCLC copies, at the International Center for Research on Anarchism (CIRA), in Switzerland, and the International Institute for Social Research (IISG), in the Netherlands.

Attila Kotanyi: L’architecture du silence [2022]

KOTANYI, Attila. L’architecture du silence. Paris: Exils, September 2022. 255 p.; ill.; 20.5 x 14 cm.; color cover with B&W portrait of Kotanyi, text in black

We would like to announce the publication of the first compendium of Attila Kotanyi’s works under the title Attila Kotanyi: L’architecture du silence.

A lesser-known figure of the Situationist International, Kotanyi’s joined the movement in the Spring of 1960, In a letter to Pinot-Gallizio dated 16 May 1960, Debord writes: “Parmi les “nouvelles recrues de l’I.S.”, je viens de rencontrer Attila Kotányi. Il est sensationnel : et Asger est très content.” (“Among the ‘new recruits to the SI’, I just met Attila Kotanyi. He is amazing: and Asger is very happy”). Kotanyi was excluded in 1962 for his alleged “Christian mysticism”. In those short years, he made numerous contributions to the SI through its journal Internationale Situationniste:

• “Gangland et Philosophie” (Issue 4, p.33) (English)
• “Rapport a la IVe conférence” (Issue 5, p.24)
• “Programme élémentaire du bureau d’urbanisme unitaire” (issue 6, p. 16) (English)
• “L’étage suivant” (issue 7, p. 47) 
• (with Raoul Vaneigem) “Theses sur la Commune” (first released as a tract, then reprinted in issue 12)

The above texts, with the exception of “Theses sur la Commune”, are reproduced in L’architecture du silence. However, also included are two rare publications from 1946 (“Architecture”, “Mohol-Nagy”) and several texts from the post-SI period. The compendium also features an introduction by Christophe Kotanyi’s, Attila’s son.

Little has been written about Kotanyi and his role in the SI. We find a great article by Erhardt Miklós here

Première exposition de psychogéographie [1957]

[DEBORD, Guy et al.] Première exposition de psychogéographie. Brussels: Galerie Taptoe, February 1957. 1 p. (two-sided); 21 x 14 cm.; black ink on red stock (front) and white stock (back).

Rare leaflet for “Première exposition de psychogéographie” at the Galerie Taptoe in Brussels between 2 February and 28 February, 1957. This collective exhibition showcased works from the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus, the Letterist International, and the London Psychogeographical Institute (i.e., Ralph Rumney) — all if which would merge into the Situationist International only a few months thereafter. It was supposed to include works by Guy Debord (” Plans psychogéographiques de Paris”), Asger Jorn (“Peintures et céramiques sensationnelles”), Yves Klein (“Tableaux monochromes”), Ralph Rumney (“Peintures”), Michèle Bernstein et Mohamed Dahou (“Photographies”) as well as anonymous contributions including “a drawing by a mad psychogeographer” (perhaps Ivan Chtcheglov, who authored the influential “Formulary for a New Urbanism” in 1953).

However, the exhibition did not come about as advertised here. Following a missed appointment with Asger Jorn at the Gare du Nord in Paris (such things were more common in the pre-cell phone era), Debord became angry at the Danish painter and refused to travel to Brussels. The conflict would de-escalate: Jorn and Debord signed a formal agreement in April 1957, then traveled to Denmark and collaborated on the artist book Fin de Copenhague and two psychogeographic maps (The Naked City, Guide Psychogeographique de Paris). However, Debord’s works were never shown at Taptoe. In fact, it is not known to this day which parts (if any) of the original announcement actually materialized. The only thing we are certain of is that a collective painting, bearing the signatures of Jorn, Rumney, Klein and Ting, was created on the occasion of this potential exhibition. Excerpts of the 6-page catalog mockup (it would never be published) for the exhibition can be found in Guy Debord. Oeuvres (Paris: Gallimard, 2006), pp.282-285 and in Guy Debord, Un art de la guerre (Paris: Gallimard, 2013), p. 81.

Guy Debord: un art de la guerre p. 80. Gonzalvez p.104-106. Guy Debord: Oeuvres p. 280-281. Scheppe p. 675.

We located 3 copies of this leaflet, at Yale, the Getty, and the French National Library.

Piero Simondo: Alle radici del Situazionismo [2004]

[SIMOND, Piero] CURTO, Guido (Ed.). Piero Simondo: Alle radici del Situazionismo. Torino: Edizioni Giampiero Biasutti, 2004. 111 p.; ill.; 22 x 28 cm.; ill. Cover with photograph of Simondo.

Catalog published on the occasion a retrospective of Simondo’s 50 year career, held at Galleria Giampiero Biasutti in Torino, Italy on May 20 – June 30, 2004. Contents include an interview of Simondo by Guido Curto; critical texts by Lorenzo Mamino (“Memorie dal Monregalese”), Alberto Farinella (“L’estetica di Simondo”), Sandro Ricaldone (“Pittura contro lo stile”), and Francesca Comisso (“Laboratorio per un pratica artistica”); a short biosketch; and a bibliograpy. The catalog also features 30 full-page, color reproductions of the artist’s works – starting with Maschera (1953) and ending with Chissa Chi (1999) – and numerous black & white photographs of Simondo and his friends (including Debord, Jorn, etc.) in Alba. This copy is exceptionally signed by Simondo, and dated 20.04.04

Piero Simondo was born in Cosio d’Arroscia on 25 August 1928 – in the same village where, 29 years later, the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus (M.I.B.I.), the Lettrist International (L.I.), and the London Psychogeographical Association (L.P.A.) would merge to form the Situationist International (S.I.). In the Summer 1955, Simondo exhibited his works in Albisola. There, he met Ager Jorn, with whom he founded the Laboratorio di esperienze immaginiste (Laboratory of imaginist experiences) within the M.I.B.I. The next year, he edited Eristica –the review of the M.I.B.I – and organized the first World Congress of Free Artists. Baj, Contant, Jorn, Pinot-Gallizio, Wolman, and Elena Verrone (who would become Simondo’s wife in 1958) were in attendance. In July 1957, he hosted members of the M.I.B.I, L.I., and L.P.A. at his house in Cosio and was a founding member of the S.I. By the following year, however, he was excluded from the organization. As a way to extend the activities of the Laboratorio Sperimentale, Simondo went on to launch the International Center for Artistic Research (CIRA) in 1962. 10 years later, in 1972, he joined the University of Turin where he held the chair of Methodology and Didactics of the Audovisual Medium. Simondo passed away on 6 November, 2020

We locate 6 OCLC copies of this catalog.

Cahier pour un paysage à inventer invitation card [1960]

[STRARAM, Patrick]. Cahier pour un paysage à inventer. Montreal, QC: n.p., 1960. 4 p.; 14.3 x 7.4 cm.; black ink on cream stock.

Invitation card for the launch of the first (and only) issue of Cahier pour un paysage a inventer. The event was held at Café Lutece (a then-popular jazz venue) in Montreal on 17 May 1960. The short-lived Situationist-influenced publication was produced by Patrick Straram following his expatriation to Canada. It mixed 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…).

For more about the Cahier itself, see this post