[Blake_Stimson,_Gregory_Sholette]_Collectivism_aft(z-lib
Internationaleries 31Debord’s 1967 pamphlet entitled The Society of the Spectacle. It was effectivelyDebord’s attempt at rewriting and updating Marx’s Capital, which hadbeen published one hundred years earlier. 54 The Society of the Spectacle wasa lapidary totalization or a détournement of not only Situationist theorythat included most of their ideas published in the pages of SI magazines aswell as those taken from congresses and conferences. Which is also anotherway of saying that through this text the group’s experimentations and experimentalmode had taken on its own materiality as a very peculiar andambivalent critique of cold war political economy: it was avant-gardist, butwith a profound, theoretical ambition unlike any other at that time. In itDebord argued that “the concrete life of everyone has been degraded intoa speculative universe.” 55 He rejected the often-rehearsed Hegelian “Aufhebung”scenario in which art Wnally surpasses itself through its own constantdesire to reach beyond formal limitations, while arguing, in a wrydétournement of Althusser’s famous phrase, that practice consisted of “experimentingwith theory.” This experimentation was irreverent and plagiaristic,yet its objective was serious: to undermine cold war formalism and theresignation into “everydayness.” Along with Debord, many other SI memberstook an active part in theoretical debates that became increasinglymore intense in the sixties. Jorn also published a book-length text critiquingpolitical economy. 56The debate in 1957 between Debord and what he termed the“Italo-experimentalist” artists helps to clarify the importance of theory fortheir practice. Debord denounced some members of the former MIBI fortheir unintentional specialization 57 and spoke about experimentation as analternative mode of action that was opposed to the dominant and highlycommodiWed modernist art and culture. In this context the theoretical, speculativeelements actually impeded specialization, Wnalization, and the creationof a simple cultural product. It was also this experimental approach totheory that helped the group mobilize a diverse, extensive audience. 58THEORY AND PRACTICE OF UNITARY URBANISMFocusing on a single “case study” or examining one exemplary and “illuminating”issue in the multifaceted practice of the internationaleries challengesthe very core of their project. They would likely claim that this approachfetishizes and ultimately invalidates the main precepts of their entire practicebecause collectivity, heterogeneity, and experimentation were designedprecisely to act as a guarantee against all forms of normalization and recuperationincluding the type of critical anthology to which this essay belongs.Nevertheless, in the case of “unitary urbanism,” we Wnd a tactic that, while
32 Jelena Stojanovićstill ambiguous, is cohesive enough in structure to invite special scrutiny.Offering yet another oxymoronic turn of phrase as its title, this ultimate experimentin intervention was Wrst fully formulated in the early Wfties throughcommon activities of MIBI and LI members. Unitary urbanism meant toexamine the extraordinary mix of art, aesthetics, collective utopianism, andradical politics that grounded the work of these groups. It was a tactic thatbecame especially prominent after a particular moment of political rupturewithin the cold war that was described by the internationaleries as “the generalrevolutionary resurgence characterizing the year 1956.” 59This is why one of the Wrst unitary urbanist events took place inDecember 1956 at the Unione Culturale center in Turin, Italy. For thisoccasion LI members Guy Debord, Gill Wolman, and Michele Bernsteintraveled to Italy and joined the members of the MIBI. A Xyer was producedwith the title “Manifestate a Favore Dell’Urbanismo Unitario” (Act in aFavor of Unitary Urbanism). The language was of course hyperbolic. It promised“a big modern adventure” that would lead toward a “general revolution.”It also emphasized another reframing tactic, that of psychogeography,FIGURE 1.5. Détourned diagram of a baseball stadium in Milwaukee; in SI rhetoric, a perfect pictureof a spectacularly colonized free time (the caption reads, “Social space of a leisure consumption”).Internationale Situationniste, no. 4 (June 1960). Copyright Librarie Arthème Fayard, 1997.
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- Page 12 and 13: PrefaceThe collectivization of arti
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Internationaleries 31
Debord’s 1967 pamphlet entitled The Society of the Spectacle. It was effectively
Debord’s attempt at rewriting and updating Marx’s Capital, which had
been published one hundred years earlier. 54 The Society of the Spectacle was
a lapidary totalization or a détournement of not only Situationist theory
that included most of their ideas published in the pages of SI magazines as
well as those taken from congresses and conferences. Which is also another
way of saying that through this text the group’s experimentations and experimental
mode had taken on its own materiality as a very peculiar and
ambivalent critique of cold war political economy: it was avant-gardist, but
with a profound, theoretical ambition unlike any other at that time. In it
Debord argued that “the concrete life of everyone has been degraded into
a speculative universe.” 55 He rejected the often-rehearsed Hegelian “Aufhebung”
scenario in which art Wnally surpasses itself through its own constant
desire to reach beyond formal limitations, while arguing, in a wry
détournement of Althusser’s famous phrase, that practice consisted of “experimenting
with theory.” This experimentation was irreverent and plagiaristic,
yet its objective was serious: to undermine cold war formalism and the
resignation into “everydayness.” Along with Debord, many other SI members
took an active part in theoretical debates that became increasingly
more intense in the sixties. Jorn also published a book-length text critiquing
political economy. 56
The debate in 1957 between Debord and what he termed the
“Italo-experimentalist” artists helps to clarify the importance of theory for
their practice. Debord denounced some members of the former MIBI for
their unintentional specialization 57 and spoke about experimentation as an
alternative mode of action that was opposed to the dominant and highly
commodiWed modernist art and culture. In this context the theoretical, speculative
elements actually impeded specialization, Wnalization, and the creation
of a simple cultural product. It was also this experimental approach to
theory that helped the group mobilize a diverse, extensive audience. 58
THEORY AND PRACTICE OF UNITARY URBANISM
Focusing on a single “case study” or examining one exemplary and “illuminating”
issue in the multifaceted practice of the internationaleries challenges
the very core of their project. They would likely claim that this approach
fetishizes and ultimately invalidates the main precepts of their entire practice
because collectivity, heterogeneity, and experimentation were designed
precisely to act as a guarantee against all forms of normalization and recuperation
including the type of critical anthology to which this essay belongs.
Nevertheless, in the case of “unitary urbanism,” we Wnd a tactic that, while