The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists, prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution in 1972. (Wikipedia)
At their worst, the Situationists could be said to have removed the requirement of specific skill and techniques from art, resulting in the common insult “my kid could do that.” At their best, and something I deeply appreciate, was that they believed art was something everyone could do, it wasn’t just for the elites. The situationists believed that art should be part of daily life, and they played a big part in making art inclusive, so that community based schools like the League can exist today.
League teacher Jon Patrick responded to my thought with this:
“I think you hit it pretty well on the head with the situationists Ruthie, but to put it into context, Europe was still emerging from “the big one” – WWII and an amount of human destruction humans had never before witnessed or unleashed. The aftermath is commonly known as the age of anxiety and along with it came a great amount of distrust for all things socially traditional or elitist, even. They were in many ways the the first real punks / DIY’er’s / political revolutionaries and instigators of the 1960’s counter-culture.”
The IS developed a critique of capitalism based on a mixture of Marxism and surrealism. Leading figure of the movement Guy Debord identified consumer society as the Society of the Spectacle in his influential 1967 book of that title. In the field of culture situationists wanted to break down the division between artists and consumers and make cultural production a part of everyday life.
It combined two existing groupings, the Lettrist International and the International Union for a Pictorial Bauhaus. 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. British artist Ralph Rumney was a co-founder of the movement.
Situationist ideas played an important role in the revolutionary Paris events of 1968. The IS was dissolved in 1972.
I posted recently about how originality is not really what we’re built for. You can read that post here. After saying how natural copying is, I thought I should follow up with some conversations about copyright issues. Typically these conversations go straight to talking about the legal system. I personally find the artistic, personal, and moral …
Starting next week, we’re switching the roles of our two ceramics studios: Why the change? Because this program isn’t what it was when we started. Under the leadership of Scott McClellan, and with the strength of our outstanding ceramics instructors, more students are sticking with it—coming back quarter after quarter, making bigger pots, more ambitious …
[image_with_animation image_url=”9625″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] STARTS TODAY. Each day for the month of June I’ll post a creative challenge. Set your own goal for what you’d like to do. Follow the work on Facebook. Creativity is it’s own reward, but participants also enter to win League gift certificates. Does that help with motivation? PRIZES AWARDED WEEKLY: …
Hope Gangloff is an American painter living and working in New York City. Born 1974, she is one year older than me. The picture of her painting in her studio, black overalls and climbing on a ladder, my mother mistook for me in my studio, black overalls, climbing on a ladder. The patterns in these …
Situationist International
The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists, prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution in 1972. (Wikipedia)
At their worst, the Situationists could be said to have removed the requirement of specific skill and techniques from art, resulting in the common insult “my kid could do that.” At their best, and something I deeply appreciate, was that they believed art was something everyone could do, it wasn’t just for the elites. The situationists believed that art should be part of daily life, and they played a big part in making art inclusive, so that community based schools like the League can exist today.
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League teacher Jon Patrick responded to my thought with this:
“I think you hit it pretty well on the head with the situationists Ruthie, but to put it into context, Europe was still emerging from “the big one” – WWII and an amount of human destruction humans had never before witnessed or unleashed. The aftermath is commonly known as the age of anxiety and along with it came a great amount of distrust for all things socially traditional or elitist, even. They were in many ways the the first real punks / DIY’er’s / political revolutionaries and instigators of the 1960’s counter-culture.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncH0-q9OXco
From Tate:
The IS developed a critique of capitalism based on a mixture of Marxism and surrealism. Leading figure of the movement Guy Debord identified consumer society as the Society of the Spectacle in his influential 1967 book of that title. In the field of culture situationists wanted to break down the division between artists and consumers and make cultural production a part of everyday life.
It combined two existing groupings, the Lettrist International and the International Union for a Pictorial Bauhaus. 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. British artist Ralph Rumney was a co-founder of the movement.
Situationist ideas played an important role in the revolutionary Paris events of 1968. The IS was dissolved in 1972.
[image_with_animation image_url=”2140″ alignment=”” animation=”None
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