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In 1957, a few experimental European groups came together to form the Situationist International. The name came from their aim of liberating everyday life through the creation of open-ended, participatory "situations" (as opposed to fixed works of art). Over the next decade the situationists developed a critique of the global "spectacle-commodity system," and their new methods of agitation helped trigger the May 1968 revolt in France. Although the SI was dissolved in 1972, situationist theories and tactics have continued to inspire radical currents in dozens of countries all over the world. This is the most comprehensive collection of situationist writings in English, greatly revised and expanded, with over 100 pages of new material..
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This volume is a revised and expanded version of a special issue of the journal October (Winter 1997) that was devoted to the work of the Situationist International (SI). The first section of the issue contained previously unpublished critical texts, and the second section contained translations of primary texts that had previously been unavailable in English. The emphasis was on the SI's profound engagement with the art and cultural politics of their time (1957-1972), with a strong argument for their primarily political and activist stance by two former members of the group, T. J. Clark and Donald Nicholson-Smith.

Guy Debord and the Situationist International supplements both sections. It reprints important, hard-to-find essays by Giorgio Agamben, Libero Andreotti, Jonathan Crary, Thomas Y. Levin, Greil Marcus, and Tom McDonough and doubles the number of translations of primary texts, which now encompass a broader and more representative range of the SI's writings on culture and language. In a field still dominated by hagiography, the critical texts were selected for their willingness to confront critically the history and legacy of the SI. They examine the group within the broader framework of the historical and neo-avant-gardes and, beyond that, the postwar world in general. The translations trace the SI's reflections on the legacy of the avant-garde in art and architecture, particularly on the linguistic and spatial significance of montage aesthetics. Many of the translated works are by Guy Debord (1932-1994), the impresario of the SI, especially known for his book The Society of the Spectacle..
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The Situationists, who first appeared on the architectural scene in the 1960s, regarded cities as the ultimate opportunity for creative self-expression. While there are many publications about the history of the Situationist International, New Babylonians offers unique coverage of how their tactics are currently employed in architectural and urban strategies. It features renowned architects and educators who were first generation Situationists and also highlights some of the most exciting international practitioners involved in urban design today.
* Contains contributions from an impressive roster of academics, designers, writers, and art practitioners
* Offers timely and lively insights about contemporary urban architecture and art.
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"It is a pleasure to see a work that situates the Situationists Sadler has performed a necessary and welcome corrective to our understanding of this strange but endearing crew." -- Adam Sweeting, American Book Review

"This concise and clearly written work shines light on. . . this intriguing and increasingly influential `hidden' avant-garde." -- John Held, Jr., San Francisco Bay Guardian

From 1957 to 1972, the artistic and political movement known as the Situationist International (SI) worked aggressively to subvert the conservative ideology of the Western world. The movement's broadside attack on "establishment" institutions and values left its mark upon the libertarian left, the counterculture, the revolutionary events of 1968, and more recent phenomena from punk to postmodernism. In this book Simon Sadler investigates the artistic, architectural, and cultural theories that were once the foundations of Situationist thought, particularly as they applied to the form of the modern city.

Simon Sadler searches for the Situationist City among the detritus of tracts, manifestoes, and works of art that the SI left behind. The book is divided into three parts. The first, "The Naked City," outlines the Situationist critique of the urban environment as it then existed. The second, "Formulary for a New Urbanism," examines Situationist principles for the city and for city living. The third, "A New Babylon," describes actual designs proposed for the Situationist City..
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Tracing the history, ideas and influences of the Situationist International, from dada to postmodernism, this book illustrates how situationist ideas continue to inform political events, cultural movements and theoretical debate..
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While square critics derided them as "the left wing of the Beat Generation," the multi-racial, working-class editorial groups of The Rebel Worker and its sister journal Heatwave in London became well known for their highly original revolutionary perspective, innovative social/cultural criticism, and uninhibited class-war humor. Rejecting traditional left dogma, and proudly affirming the influence of Bugs Bunny and the Incredible Hulk, these playful rebels against work expanded the critique of Capital into a critique of daily life and developed a truly radical theory and practice, rooted in poetry, provocation, blues, jazz and the pleasure principle. Active in strikes, free-speech fights and other tumults, they also introduced countless readers to important writings by and about surrealists, situationists, IWWs, anarchists, libertarian Marxists, Provos, the Japanese Zengakuren, and other political/cultural revolutionary-minded individuals and movements from all over the world. This lavish tome provides dozens of selections from all the editions of both journals, with a wealth of related documents, communiques and articles, a bibliography, and detailed introduc tions by the original editors. What a book! What other work could Murray Bookchin, Sam Dolgoff and Guy Debord all agree was worthwhile and revolutionary! .
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Yesterday, the police interrogated me at length about the journal and the Situationist organization. It was only a beginning. This is, I think, one of the principle threats that came up quickly during the discussion: the police want to regard the SI as an association in order to set about its dissolution in France. I protested, emphasizing that the artistic movement was never legally constituted by moral individuals in a declared association. Not being constituted, the SI cannot be officially dissolved, but they tried to intimidate us heavily. It seems they take us for gangsters!
—from Correspondence

This volume traces the dynamic first years of the Situationist International movement—a cultural avant-garde that continues to inspire new generations of artists, theorists, and writers more than half a century later. Debord's letters—published here for the first time in English—provide a fascinating insider's view of just how this seemingly disorganized group drifting around a newly consumerized Paris became one of the most defining cultural movements of the twentieth century. Circumstances, personalities, and ambitions all come into play as the group develops its strategy of anarchic, conceptual, but highly political "intervention."

Brilliantly conceived, this collection of letters offers the best available introduction to the Situationist International movement by detailing, through original documents, how the group formed and defined its cultural mission: to bring about, "by any means possible, even artistic," a complete transformation of personal life within the Society of the Spectacle..
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First published in 1974, 'Leaving..' was the first collection of Situationist writing in English. Chris Gray, its editor, was himself a member of the SI. Long out of print, it has gained an enormous reputation. This new, lavish, oversize edition, keeps the original provocative, and free and easy translations, along with the cut and paste graphics, poster-art and cartoons. It stands as a remarkable, and eminently accessible, introduction to a remarkable (and oft-times superficially at least, inaccessible) revolutionary project. Now as we stand at the gates of the 21st century, it is time for a new generation of readers to take up this remarkable book..
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The Situationist International (1957–1972) has had a very productive afterlife. This annotated bibliography contains over 600 references that chart its rise to fame from obscurity to celebrity. More than just a bibliography, it is the most substantial reference book yet produced on the group. It also provides a gateway to the related worlds of underground publishing, anarchism, and the contemporary avant-garde.

In addition to listing and describing every significant publication on the SI, it is also a rich resource of information on related groups such as Gruppe Spur, Cobra, and Lettrisme. There are two sections solely devoted to documenting the little known British and American "pro-situ" scenes. Each reference is annotated with a short description and a relevant extract. With its extensive index, the bibliography provides countless new ways of examining and comprehending one of this century's most misunderstood groups.

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