Situationist and Archigram

8/13/2019 Situationist and Archigram

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Situationist International vs Archigrama battle of the narrative

Week 8 AAHTS 3 / Architectural Coupling + 1


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[excerpt] Towards a New Architecture, 1923 by Le Corbusier


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[image] Plan Voisin detail, 1925 by Le Corbusier


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[images] covers of LEsprit Nouveau, 1919-24 by Le Corbusier


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[image] Pavillion LEsprit Nouveau, 1925 by Le Corbusier


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[image] members of CIAM at CIAM I in La Sarraz, Switzerland, 1928


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[image] members of CIAM at CIAM I playing about, 1928


9/51[above] cover ofAthens Charter, 1943 published by Le Corbusier


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[above] Cafe Notre-Dame,where CoBrA was founded

[right] founding members of CoBrA - Constant and Asger Jorn amongst others


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In this period of change, the role

of the creative artist can only be that

of the revolutionary: it is his duty

to destroy the last remnants of

an empty, irksome aesthetic,

arousing the creative instincts stillslumbering unconscious in the human

mind.

The masses, brought up with aesthetic

conventions imposed from without,

are as yet unaware of their creative

potential.

This will be stimulated by an art which

does not defne but suggests, by the

arousal of associations and thespeculations which come forth

from them, creating a new and

fantastic way of seeing.

[above] Manifesto of the Dutch Experimental Group

by Constant published 1948 in Reex #1


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[right] To Us, Libertyby Constant, 1949

[top] cover of Reex

[bottom]scan of CoBRa Journal cover


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...buildings must not be squalid or

anonymous, neither should they be show

pieces from a museum; rather they must

commune with each other,integrate with

the environment to create synthesised

citiesfor a new socialist world.

[above] Except fromTowards a Symbolic Architectureby Michel

Colle published 1948 in CoBrA journal #1

[image] drawings from Corbusiers Radiant City


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[above left] image from 1923 London edition by Harry Clarke

[above right] a 1943 etching by Fritz Eichenberg

The Man of the Crowd, 1840 by Edgar Allen Poe


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[above] Hackney, That Rose-red Empire: A Condential Report, 2009 by Iain Sinclair


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Looking for ... a symbiosis

potentialities

freedom

Evoking ... wandering

authenticity

a new way of seeing desires

By way of ... the individual

(in the city)

[image] map of Paris, 1952 by Guy Debord


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On the bases of this mobile civilization,architecturewill, at least initially, be a meansofexperimenting with a thousand ways of

modifying life, with a view to an ultimate [...]synthesis.

[above] quote from Formulary for a New Urbanism,1953, Ivan Chtcheglov

[left] Prison or Death for the Young,1950 by Ivan Chtcheglov

[below] Ivan Chtcheglov


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Psychogeography is... the study of precise laws and

specifc effects of the geographical

environment, consciously

organised or not,on the emotions

and behaviours of individuals

[above] denition of psychogeography, 1955 by Guy

Debord, developed from Ivan Ctcheglovs wrting

[left] plotting of a students trajectories over one year in

Paris by Paul-Henri Chombart de Lauwe


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[left] LetteristGroup

[right] CoBrA

[left] LetteristInternational

[right]International

Movement for anImaginist Bauhaus

[below] Situationist International (SI) [1957]


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slide with all of the texts of SI

[image] graph of the texts of the SItuationist International


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Theory of the Driveby Guy Debordquestioned how to remove ourselves from the

rigidity of our daily lives, paths, behaviours and

seeked how to enable the narratives of ourdaily lives to become exible, authentic, with a

sense of awareness

[above] published in 1958 in International Situationniste #2

[image] a scene from Guy Debords 1961 lm Society of the Spectacle


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drive(verb)

to oat, drift, drifting (from the French)

it is similiar to the Letterist term dtourement

(a subversive act) and is key in the

construction of situations, or moments of

rupture with everyday life

a technique of rapid passage through

various ambiances [...] involves playful-

constructive behaviour and an awareness of

psychogeographical effects...

[quote] Theory of the Derive by Guy Debord published in 1958 inInternational Situationniste #2

[image] Guy Debord long exposure, smoking


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[image] Psychogeographic Map of Paris, 1955 by Guy Debord


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It could be continuous like the poker game in Las

Vegas, but only for a certain period, limited to a

weekend for some people, to a week as a good average;

a month is really pushing it. In 1953-1954 we drived

for three or four months straight. Thats the extreme

limit. Its a miracle it didnt kill us.

[excerpt] from a letter from Ivan Chtcheglov to Guy Debord in 1963, reprinted in

Internationale Situationniste #9


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[image] The Naked City, 1958 by Guy Debord & Asger Jorn


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On the bases of this mobile civilization,

architecture will, at least initially, be a means ofexperimenting with a thousand ways of modifyinglife, with a view to an ultimate [...] synthesis.

[excerpt]Formulary for a New Urbanism, 1950 by Ivan Chtcheglov

Guy Debord & Asger

Jorn interpreted asmeaning architecturethat exists, ie the city

Constant interpreted

as meaningarchitecture that canbe constructed


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Unitary urbanism a synthesis of artand technology must be constructed

[above] called for Gil J. Wolman, 1957

[image] collage by Gil J. Wolman, 1950s


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Guy Debordfocused oncontent

via the drive

Constanthad a structuralapproach

vs

[image] Life Continues to be Free and


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[image]Life Continues to be Free and

Easy by Guy Debord, 1959 - gift to

Constant


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[image]Amsterdam Municipal Orphanage, 1955-1960 by Aldo van Eyck

[image] cover of Potlatch #3 with drawing of Alison


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[ g ] g

and Peter SmithsonsGolden Lane Project, 1953 as it

appeared for CIAM 9


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[images] New Bablyon over parts of Englandby Constant


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[image] Space Travel,1957 by Constant


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[images] Nebulous Machine wire constructions,1958 by Constant


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[image] New Babylon collaged over existing city by Constant


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[image] New Babylon collaged over a region by Constant


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[image] New Babylon - autonomous from ground by Constant


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[images] New Babylon as a new map by Constant


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[images] models of New Babylon by Constant


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[image] New Babylon collage - view from the ground by Constant


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[images] inside New Babylonbeing transformed by Constant


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[images] Archigram in the 1960s - Peter Cook, David Greene, Mike Webb, Ron Herron,

Warren Chalk, and Dennis Crompton - and again in the 1990s in the AA Library


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[images] pages ofArchigram 1from 1961 - broadsheet published by Archigram


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[image]Archigram 2 cover


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[top] pages of Dream City project, 1963 by David Greene and Michael Webb

[left] compared toNew Babylonby Constant, the suspended city


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[left] cover ofArchigram 3 - Expendable Architecture

[right] cover ofArchigram 4 - Amazing Archigram Zoom


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[above] Plug-in City 1962-64 developed by Peter Cook and Dennis Crompton


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[above] Plug-in City 1962-64 developed by Peter Cook and Dennis Crompton - ofce and housing units for Charing Cross Road

The term city is used as a collective, the projectbeing a portmanteau for several ideas, and does not

necessarily imply a replacement of known cities.

[excerpt] from Peter Cooks writing on Plug-in City, from Westminsters

Archigram Archival Project Online


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Thank you. (Peter Cook at Thrilling Wonder Series in 2009 - 5 t-shirts in 30 min)

Situationist and Archigram

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