As well as writer and filmmaker guy debord, the group also prominently included the former cobra painter asger jorn, and the former cobra artist constant. Box 1044, berkeley ca 94701 cover om a 1957 psychogeographical map of paris by guy debord. Psychogeography is more than the psychological effects of the urban environment, argues maisie ridgway. The situationists challenged peoples passive conditioning with carefully calculated scandals and the playful tactic of detournement. This book examines the origins of psychogeography in the paris of the 1950s, exploring the theoretical background and its political application in the work of guy debord and the situationists. An introduction to the situationists the anarchist library. His walks map out what he refers to as an alternative cartography, a process for which the situationists used the word psychogeography. The other side of appropriation is exclusionary citation, a recent example being merlin coverleys psychogeography. Matthews an introduction to the situationists 2005. Guy debords the society of the spectacle will self.
Wanderings in psychogeography mit department of urban. The society of the spectacle by guy debord a key member of the situationist international argues that contemporary capitalist society has become obsessed with images and appearances over all else. The double negative an introduction to psychogeography. The most radical gesture the most radical gesture is the first major study of the situationist international, a revolutionary movement of extraordinary ambition and influence whose reflections on art, everyday life, pleasure, spontaneity, the city, and the spectacle have ensured it a. Cover om a 1957 psychogeographical map of paris by guy debord. For example, in his experimental booklength poem lud. The revolution of everyday life raoul vaneigem classic book outlining the alienation of everyday life. Psychogeography emerged entirely independently in paris in the 1950s and in the boston area in the 1950s and 1960s, in the wildly disparate practices of the situationists and of planners and geographers. But london psychogeography over the past 25 years owes. The situationists hankered after the pioneer spirit of the modernist period, when new ideas, such as those of marx, freud, and nietzsche, still felt fresh and vital. Pdf psychogeography download full pdf book download.
One of the basic situationist practices is the derive literally. It focuses on our psychological experiences of the city, and reveals or illuminates forgotten, discarded, or. Situationists reading guide s reading guide to the situationists. The situationists played a preponderant role in the may 1968 uprisings, and to some extent their political perspective and ideas fueled such crisis, providing a central theoretic foundation. Writer, artist, filmmaker, provocateur, revolutionary, and impresario of the situationist international, guy debord shunned the apparatus of publicity he dissected so brilliantly in his most influential work, the society of the spectacle. Situationists in the late 50s which enabled walking as a means of radical.
In this latter regard, ecological science despite the narrow social space to which it limits itself provides psychogeography with abundant data. Debords analysis of time itself as a series of epochs is dizzying. Psychogeography gained popularity in the 1990s when. Psychogeography and its relationship with psychology. Society of the spectacle guy debord arguably the most important text of situationist ideas. Submitted as ma thesis at the new school for social research, summer 2017. The situationist international anthology, generally recognized as the most comprehensive and accurately translated collection of situationist writings in english, presents a rich variety of articles, leaflets, graffiti and internal documents, ranging from early experiments in psychogeography to lucid analyses of the watts riot, the vietnam. Psychogeography is an exploration of urban environments that emphasizes playfulness and drifting. Situationism is a theory used in psychology that assumes that a persons behavior is dictated largely by his situation rather than by his personal attributes. Situationism is a psychological theory that places emphasis on external and situational factors in personality and behavior. In this ambitious and innovative biography, vincent kaufmann places debords very hostility toward the inquisitive, biographical gaze at the center of an.
The press release for the event offered a shortened and unattributed version of the definition of psychogeography by the situationist guy debord in 1955 as the. It combined two existing groupings, the lettrist international and the international union for a pictorial bauhaus. An introduction to psychogeographical psychology by dr alexander j bridger, senior lecturer in psychology. In his introduction to psychogeography, merlin coverley asks, are we talking about. Nevertheless, these tactics have been widely rifled and appropriated. The reimagining of the city proposed by psychogeography has its roots in dadaism and surrealism, art movements which explored ways of unleashing the subconscious imagination. By the late fifties, movements such as british and american pop art and french nouveau ralisme had become intensely interested in everyday life, space, and mass culture. Psychogeography, mapping, situationism, cappadocia, mobile. In fact, it was guy debord who introduced the idea together with the name psychogeography to refer to some provisional terrains of observation, including the observation of certain processes of chance and predictability in the streets.
The word psychogeography, suggested by an illiterate kabyle as a general term for the phenomena a few of us were investigating around the summer of 1953, is not too inappropriate. Derivedrift and psychogeography we use your linkedin profile and activity data to personalize ads and to show you more relevant ads. Its continuing legacy is considered through an exploration of its contemporary resonance, and the cultural politics of new social movements and diy aspects. The paper argues that experimental modes of exploration can play a vital role in the development of critical approaches to the cultural geographies of cities. While sis member count had been steadily falling for the preceding several years, the ones that remained were able to fill revolutionary roles for which they had patiently anticipated and prepared. In ken knabb, editor, situationist international anthology, pages 18.
British artist ralph rumney was a cofounder of the movement. Pdf this chapter focuses on the potentialities of mapping urban. Psychogeography by merlin coverley overdrive rakuten. Seeking a more extreme social revolution than was dreamed of by most leftists, they developed an incisive critique of the global spectaclecommodity system and of its communist and bureaucratic leftist pseudo. Rather than focusing on the importance of innate traits on influencing personality situationists believe that the current and immediate situation is the most influential. It has links to the letterist and situationist internationals, revolutionary groups influenced by marxist and anarchist theory, as well as by the attitudes and methods of dadaists and surrealists. But where does it come from and what exactly does it mean. Psychogeography, as the term suggests, is the intersection of psychology and geography. Peter wollen, situationists and architecture, nlr 8, march. Guy debord, one of the leading members of the situationist international.
Unlike marxistleninists, the situationists made full use of marxs theory of alienation and built much of their analysis of modern capitalism on this conceptual basis. Psychogeography is diverse activities that raise awareness of the natural and cultural environment around you. Formed by the coming together of a number of avantgarde european groups in 1957 and dissolved in 1972, the situationist international developed an increasingly incisive and coherent critique of modern society and of its bureaucratic pseudoopposition, and its new methods of agitation were influential in leading up to the may 1968 revolt in france knabb. Situated pedagogy and the situationist international. Lettristsituationist founder guy debord called for a new field of inquiry, to be known as psychogeography, established to study the precise laws and. The society of the spectacle reads if you will savour a cliche as fresh as paint. See more ideas about guy debord, situationist international and urban design diagram. Psychogeography could set for itself the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the. Its relational quality and influence on contemporary art. Psychogeography continues to find retrospective validation in much earlier traditions, from the. But the derive includes both this lettinggo and its necessary contradiction. Here, she explains why the movement has become a political statement, a seizure of power and a joyous mode of play and discovery. In the time before the industrial revolution, cities were defined by their rivers.
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