Guy Debord and the Situationist International. Texts and Documents
Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2002. 1st Edition. Small quarto, publisher's black cloth, spine stamped in metallic blue, original illustrated dust jacket.
Collection of writings by French Marxist philosopher and filmmaker Debord and others involved with the 1950s and 60s activist art movement known as the Situationist International. The SI artists emerged in 1957 as an anti-art, anti-authoritarian avant-garde movement. Their early work focused predominantly on art and aesthetics, but the focus gradually shifted towards revolutionary and political theory, culminating in the 1968 student uprisings in Paris. "The fact is that the writing the situationists left behind makes almost all present-day political and aesthetic thinking seem cowardly, self-protecting, careerist, and satisfied. It remains a means to the recovery of ambition" (from the introduction by cultural critic Greil Marcus). Other Situationists included here are Michèle Bernstein, Raoul Vaneigem, Mustafa Khayati and more. Illustrated with dozens of black-and-white photos and reproductions. Published as a revised and expanded edition of a 1997 special issue of arts journal October. Over-opened at the half-title. Slight dustiness to cloth, else fine in unclipped dust jacket. Item #13336
$65.00