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Situationism and the Writings of T. J. Clark

2010; Michigan State University; Volume: 4; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/jsr.0.0045

1930-1197

Gregory Seltzer,

Cultural Studies and Postmodernism

Situationism and the Writings of T. J. Clark Gregory Seltzer Introduction Situationism was a Marxist-oriented cultural and political movement of the 1960s that called for a critique of both modern capitalist society and the passive consumerism that came to dominate this system. Unlike other revolutionary groups of the time, Situationist International (SI) did not accept the individual's submissive position via this "autocratic reign of the commodity economy"1 as unavoidable. As Gerd-Rainer Horn explains, "What made Situationism into a movement prefiguring the thoughts and deeds of an entire generation of political activists was its refusal to accept this dystopian status quo as an inevitable, if perhaps deplorable, feature of modern existence."2 Furthermore, SI was radical in its belief in the "liberating powers of certain features of everyday life,"3 the day-to-day experiences of individuals. Although SI disbanded in 1972, its ideas were not simply a transient product of the liberal environment of the 1960s. This assertion suggests a final point of emphasis: the enduring merit of Situationist theory. As Anselm Jappe observes, "It is clear that the Situationists were the only people at the time to develop a theory . . . whose interest is not merely historiographical [End Page 121] but retains a potential relevance today."4 To demonstrate the durability of Situationist theory across time, this essay will examine a selection of writings by prominent art historian T. J. Clark. Clark was briefly a member of SI in the late 1960s and would later apply many of the group's ideas to his analyses of artwork. Before scrutinizing Clark's writings, an overview of Situationist theory—especially its more radical facets—establishes a proper framework for the Situationist ideas that Clark incorporates into his texts An Overview of Situationism The formation of Situationist International in 1957 was essentially the unification of two avant-garde groups, the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus and Lettrist International.5 Imaginist Bauhaus seems to have contributed to the initial artistic impulses of Situationist International. In 1957, Asger Jorn wrote that Imaginist Bauhaus was an answer to the question of "WHERE AND HOW to find a justified place for artists in the machine age." Jorn added that Imaginist Bauhaus sought to move toward experimental artistic activity and to promote an "integral revolutionary cultural attitude."6 From Lettrist International, SI adopted the belief that the existing world, built under "the sign of the economy" and obsessed with commodities, needed to be completely demolished and reconstructed around a base of widespread creativity.7 Of these two parent groups, Lettrist International had the more lasting influence on the development of Situationist International through the 1960s. The Situationist movement officially ended in 1972 when Guy Debord, one of SI's leaders and most prominent figures, disbanded the group in response both to its increasing notoriety and to disputes about the group's ideology and hierarchy.8 Before the group's dissolution, a particular internal disagreement created a rift between the artists and the political theorists within Situationist International, and this rift resulted in the expulsion of certain artists from SI. As Peter Wollen explains, the artists disagreed with the theorists' claim that "art could not be recognized as a separate activity with its own legitimate specificity."9 The excluded members, claimed a December 1963 SI article, were primarily individuals whose "socially recognized and increasingly profitable roles as artists" contributed to attempts made by SI's [End Page 122] critics to pigeonhole the movement as "just one more doomsday aesthetic" of modern society.10 From the division in 1962 until 1972, Debord took on a larger role in SI as the group's agenda shifted from primarily artistic goals to a more revolutionary political ideology.11 This move from the artistic to the political ushered in a new stage of Situationist practice, transforming "the most political of all artistic movements into the most artistic of all political movements."12 This essay will emphasize the political history of SI and the period that followed the cleavage of the early 1960s. Situationist International was driven by the desire to rebel against a "mediocre" society and an "unfulfilling" everyday life over which individuals had no real control.13...