The group then shifted into its better-known and more theoretical phase, during which Debord developed his critique of the spectacle in the age of mass consumption, culminating in the publication of The Society of the Spectacle in 1967. The following year, the largely student-led protest movements throughout Europe drew heavily from the SI's theoretical and critical framework, referencing Debord's book, Belgian Situationist Raoul Vaneigem's The Revolution of Everyday Life (1967), and Tunisian Situationist Mustafa Khayati's On the Poverty of Student Life (1966). By 1972 the SI had dissolved, leaving Debord and Italian writer Gianfranco Sanguinetti as the last two official members.
The collection is organized into chapters related to specific individual SI members and events as well as related groups, including the Spur group and the Scandinavian Drakabygget group, which went on to publish a "journal for art against atomic bombs, popes and politicians." Though both groups were expelled from the official SI in 1962, they continued to operate as Situationists on their own terms. Indeed, one of the collection's strengths is that it allows for a more inclusive consideration of Situationists, ranging beyond Debord's orthodoxy to include Jorn, Jacqueline de Jong, Piero Simondo, and other figures as well as the various branches active across Northern Europe. Each chapter consists of a mix of visual and manuscript material, publications, and a large amount of ephemera.
|