The Great Sideshow of The Situationist 1987

The Great Sideshow of the Situationist International
Author(s): Edward Ball

Source: Yale French Studies, No. 73, Everyday Life (1987), pp. 21-37
Published by: Yale University Press
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EDWARD BALL
The GreatSideshowoftheSituationist
International
Then appearedforthefirsttimethedisquieting ofthe
figures
"Situationist
International."
How manyarethere?Wheredo theycome
from?No one knows.
-Le RepublicainLorrain,28 June1967
SIRE, I AM FROM THE OTHER COUNTRY

Throughoutthe fifteenyearsof theirpublic activity,the Situationist
International-thepolitical-artistic cell thatoperatedin Parisand else-
wherefrom1957 to 1972-refusedtheidentitiespressedupon themby
the discoursesaroundart,politics,and philosophy.The Situationists
understood whatHegelcalled "thecunningofhistory"-thatprocessby
whichhistoricalactorsundertakea projectwhoseconsequencesresultin
somethingcompletelydifferent fromtheirintentions.Historysnatches
defeatfromthejaws ofvictory. As an exampleofthisreversalitis plainto
see howtheDadaist attackon theinstitutions of"Art"was soonassimi-
latedandnaturalizedbytheart-critical establishment itself.One merely
has to visita museumwhereDada artifacts are on displayto findthem
represented in a strangeideologicalconfinement-either as anothertes-
timonyto thegloryofartisticexpression,or as a crucialmomentin the
development ofthemodernistcanon(orboth).The Situationistssensed
thatdominantinstitutionscontrolthe emergenceoftheirown opposi-
tionas a matterofcourse,and so like theDadaists,theyadoptedtactics
meanttopreempttheirownsuccesson theterrainofrespectableculture.
The problemoftheirhistoricalrepresentation maybe moreonerous
in viewofthefactthatso fewcriticalwritingshave gatheredaroundthe
SituationistInternational since thegroupdisbandedin 1972.In theEn-
glishlanguage,thereis verylittlecommentary on thegroupin eitherthe
academicor thecriticalpress-a factwhich,forthesituationistsstands
as evidenceoftheiraberrantsuccess. Certainly, fewanglophonesare at
all familiarwiththesome fifteen yearsofsituationistactivityin France
and,to a lesserdegree,in otherpartsof Europeand the UnitedStates.
Only scatteredreferencesto that activityappearedin Americanjour-
nalismofthelate 1960s,especiallyaroundthetimeofMay, 1968:
21
22 Yale French Studies
Thosewhowanttounderstand theideasbehindthestudent revoltsin
theOldWorldoughttopayseriousattention notonlytothewritingof
Adorno andofthethreeM's-Marx,Mao,andMarcuse-butaboveall
totheliterature
ofthesituationists....[TheNew YorkTimes,21 April
1968]
"Inside,in jampackedauditoriums,thousandsapplaudedall-nightde-
batesthatrangedovereveryconceivabletopic,fromthe "anesthesiaof
influence,"totheeliminationof"bourgeoisspectacles"andhowtoshare
their "revolution" with the mass of French workers.... There were
Maoists, Trotskyists,ordinarycommunists,anarchists,and "situa-
tionists"-a tag forthose withoutpreconceivedideologieswho judge
each situationas it arises"(Time, 24 May 1968).1In thesefewsentences,
one can see thesituationists staringbackat thepuzzledgazeofAmerican
newsjournalism,whichbarelyrecognizesits subject.
In France,due to theirleadingrole in the eventsofMay 1968,the
situationistshave beenpromotedintopopularmemoryand cant.At the
endofthe 1960s,situationistsloganscoveredthewalls ofParis;2situa-
tionistpoliticaltacticshad been popularizedon the left,and the group
itselfwas besiegedbyactivistswhowantedto signon toitsnotoriety. Yet
despitetheirstrongprofile,situationistwritingshave remainedtoo ex-
tremeformuchacademicdebate.3In the SituationistInternational, we
aredescribing peoplewho livedtheirhistoryin largepartoutsideofthe
legitimatepress.The situationists drewtheattentionofthemass media,
butarousedlittlecuriosityamongphilosophers; theyhelpedto shapethe
nearrevolutionof 1968,but one findsthemconspicuouslyabsentfrom
thehistoricalnarrative; theyworkedwithactivistsandtradeunions,but
werepassed overby politicalanalysts.The historyof the Situationist
International is as yetunwritten.
THE SITUATIONISTS DO PARIS

The SituationistInternational
(the"S.I.") constituted
itselfandbeganto
publisha journalofthesamenamein 1957.Thisactioncameafterseveral
1. Citedin KenKnabb,ed. andtrans.,Situationist International Anthology (Berkeley:
BureauofPublicSecrets,1981-no copyright).
2. The situationistswereirrepressiblesloganeerswho seemedto submergean entire
politicsin eachsentence.In onephrase,"Sous les paves,la plage"[Underthecobblestones,
thebeach],one can see, all at once,thepoliticalidealismofthegroup,its realismabout
transforming a societyas inflexibleas the streetitself,and a programforstreetaction
(cobblestonesaretypically used againstthepolicebydemonstrators).
3. Therearesomeexceptionstothis.Forexample,in thehandfulofacademicorquasi-
academicaccountswrittenbyex-members oftheSituationist two cometo
International,
mind:Jean-Jacques Raspaudand Jean-Pierre Voyer'sL'Internationale Situationniste:
pro-
tagonistes, chronologie,bibliographie(avec un index des nomsinsultes),(Paris:Champ
Libre,1971);andRen6Vienet'sEnragesetsituationnistes dansle mouvementdes occupa-
tions(Paris:Gallimard,1968).
EDWARD BALL 23
yearsofart-making, casual research,and agit-prop interventions
on the
partofits founding members.In July1957,a handfulofEuropeanavant-
gardegroupsconvenedat Cosio d'Arrosciain Italy.Presentwere dele-
gatesfromL'InternationaleLettriste(theLettristInternational, a cell of
artists),fromtheGermanand Scandinavianmovementforan Imaginist
Bauhaus,andfromthe"LondonPsychogeographical Committee."These
groups,whichwerebyandlargeknownonlytotheirmembers, decidedto
amalgamate.Theyconvenedas L'InternationaleSituationniste.
Forthe nextdecade and a half,the S.I. developedand practicedan
aggressive critiqueofindustrialcultureofboththeEast(itsstatesocialist
variant)and the West (its capitalistvariant).This critiquepulsed into
wide circulationduringthe dislocationsin Frenchsocial and economic
lifein the periodMarch-June1968. Then, situationisttacticsand ide-
ologyanimatedtheeventsin theuniversities whichledtoa generalstrike
andnationwideoccupationoffactoriesand offices.FollowingthatMay,
the S.I. was pushedforwardto a positionof romanticnotorietyin the
Frenchleft.The grouphad soughtto avoid partyleadershipstatusin
politicallife.Yet, now theirideas were "in everyone'sheads," as they
used to claim. The last congressof the situationistswas convenedin
orderto disbandthe group.In 1972,the S.I. was formallydissolvedin
Paris.
To approachthe situationists, one cannotbeginwiththeusual sec-
ondarysourcematerial.Itdoesnot(yet)exist.One mustturntotheirown
self-published texts.The journal L'InternationaleSituationnistewas
writtenand publishedcollectivelybetween1958 and 1969.4Manyofits
articlesappearedunsigned.This anonymitywas partlycollectivistin
inspirationand partlyan effort to producean undifferentiated frontof
situationistactivity.In its manifestoes, pamphlets,posters,and in the
journalL'InternationaleSituationnisteitself,the S.I. copyrighted none
of theirwritings,which were typicallyaccompaniedby an inscription
encouraging theuse ofthetext,"evenwithoutmentioning thesource."
In its earlyyears,themembership oftheS.I. couldgatherin a small
cafe.The cell was run,anddecisionsweremade,byballot.Butas in most
collectivities in a monadicorindividualistic society(ourown),theclaim
ofequalitydisguiseda de factohierarchy, at the top ofwhichwas Guy
Debord.Debordwas to the S.I. whatAndreBretonwas to the earlysur-
realists:its primemover,its chiefpolemicist,thecommissarorhead of
thecadre.Debordis bestknowntodayforhis 1967SocietyoftheSpecta-
cle,a bulletinofnumberedthesesthathas receivedthewidestcirculation
ofanysituationisttextin the English-speaking world.
Situationist ideology-and we mayuse thisword,sincethewritings
4. The journalL'Internationale
situationniste, in Parisbetween
publishedirregularly
1957 and 1969,and largelyunavailablein Americanlibraries,has been reissuedin one
volume,InternationaleSituationniste:1958-69 (Paris:ChampLibre,firstpublishedby
Van Gennep,Amsterdam, 1970).
24 Yale FrenchStudies
supplybotha diagnosisofmodernsocial conditionsand a programfor
theirtransformation-came togetherat the intersectionof a rangeof
discourseson art,politics,and social formations. FromtheDadaist van-
guardoftheteensandtwentiestheytookan urgeto destroyart;fromthe
an aim to reconstitute
surrealists, it at the level of everydaylife.From
modernismin architecture theydevelopeda utopianurbanism,in part
derivedfromthe Bauhaus,but supersedingit in an effort to widen its
formalistand populisttendenciesintoa generalpoliticalstudyofurban
space.Out ofthesepositions,theS.I. developeda kindofphenomenology
ofurbanlife.One ofthe alternativesto the alienationsofthecity,they
reasoned,shouldbe the consciousconstruction of "situations,"or the-
atricalenvironments inside the urban environment-actsof cultural
sabotageordiversionsthatmightstrengthen thegrowingbohemiansub-
culture."Psychogeography" was thewordintroducedto foreground the
wholeareaofmentalstatesand spatialambiencesproducedbythemate-
rial arrangements of the urban scene. Guy Debord suggestedthat a
psychogeography
couldsetupforitself lawsandspecific
oftheprecise
thestudy effects
of
thegeographicalenvironment,consciously ornot,on the
organized
emotionand behaviorofindividuals.. . . [Firomanystandpointother
thanthatofpolicecontrol,
Haussman'sParisisa citybuiltbyidiots,
full
ofsoundandfury, signifying
nothing.5
Psychogeography providedthe theoreticalsanctionforgreatdelin-
quent play. In 1950, an eventoccurredin Paris thatwould become a
legendin theranksoftheS.I. On EasterSunday,miscreants, twoofwhom
wouldlaterjoin a handfuloftheprotosituationist LettristInternational,
enteredthe sacristyof NotreDame Cathedralin Parisjust beforehigh
mass.Theretheydetainedthepriestanddonnedclericalvestments.One
ofthe groupproceededto the pulpitand,beforea vast congregation on
thisholiestdayoftheChristiancalendar,beganto preachon Nietzsche
and the deathof God. Aftera fewminutes,the gathering in the nave
sensed foul play. The congregationchased the bunch of saboteurs
throughthecathedraland out intothe streets.
In theirdailylives,thesituationists bohemiansolipsismand
refined
negationinto an idealiststance: theywere declasses intellectualsand
artists,outsideof the academic circuit,out of the reachofthe popular
press,and fiercelymarginal,". . . in the catacombs ofvisible culture."6A
kindofseparatistmoraleanimatessituationistwritings, as ifthecell is
speakingfromexile in its own culture.Their solidaritydependedon a
rigidcontrolofmembership, whichgaveriseto a cadrementalitycom-
mon to twentieth-century avant-garde movements.Expulsionofmem-
5. This comesfroma textwhichantedatesthestart-upoftheS.I. GuyDebord,"Intro-
Les Levres nues no. 6 (September,
ductionto a CritiqueofUrbanGeography," 1955).
6. Ken Knabb,op. cit.,60.
EDWARD BALL 25
berswas ordinary-businessas usual-and helpedtheSituationist Inter-
nationalto representitselfas an urbanbande aupartwithinthegeneral
social hegemony.This last tactic (the exclusionof memberswho had
drifted fromsituationistideology)was inheritedfromthe surrealistsas
well as beinga commondevicein leftistpartypolitics.One can see that
thesituationists reachedin everydirectionto shapean identity:toward
theBauhaus,Dada, phenomenology, and,above all in the 1960s,as we
will see in a moment,towardMarxism.
It is apparenttodaythatthestoryoftheSituationistInternational is
also the storyofa longand wide transformation thathas been making
itselfvisiblein industrialized societiessincethemid 1950s.Some thirty
yearsago situationists announceda critiquethathas recentlyemergedas
a definition ofourso-called"postmodern" culture.This is notto saythat
thesituationists were "thefirstpostmodems. " Sucha groupwouldonly
be rhetorically identifiedby a historicismthatdoteson originality. Yet
thecurrentcritiqueadoptedamongpoliticaltheorists, philosophers, and
culturaland arthistoriansas one or anothertheoryofpostmodernism
was fullyarticulated in theoryandpracticebytheS.I. longbeforeourown
allegedlypostmodemtimes.What's more,the situationistprogramof
culturalinfidelity and sabotagehas,overa relatively briefperiodoftime,
been massivelyincorporatedinto stylesof discursiveproduction(art,
literature, cinema)and even,in widerareasofexchange,intomethodsof
productdevelopmentand marketingstrategiesin the consumerecono-
my.It soundslikea familiarstory:whatwas oncesubversivenowturnsa
profit.Yet thereis more.The situationists, as we will see, didnotthem-
selves become marketable;rather,theytaughtan ensuinggeneration
how to recyclethe detritusofofficiallearning;how to reinscribetexts,
figures, and artifactsso as to empowerthemwithnew meanings;and,
despitetheirprecautions, how to makenewproductsout oftheleftovers
ofthecommodityeconomy.
THE GREAT SHOW OF REIFICATION

To understandthese strangereversalsand theirrelationshipto the
emergence ofthenewindustriesofpostmodernism, we mustfirstlookat
thecomponentsofsituationistpolitics.The greatestmomentumforthe
maturesituationistcritiquecame fromMarxism.Throughoutits histo-
ry,the SituationistInternationaloperatedfromthe understanding that
capitalismhas establishedforitselfa virtuallytotalizedsocial field,one
inwhichall areasoflifearearticulatedforthesurvivalofthegivenmeans
andrelationsofproduction.This is in line withtheupdatingorrevision
oftheMarxistproblematic generally undertaken bytheFrankfurt School
andmanyothercriticssincethe 1930s.It is a defensivepositionthatfirst
aroseoutofthefailureoftheMarxistideologytodetonatetherevolution
in theWest,a Marxismthatgrewup whentheEuropeanleftstaredinto
the face of fascismand was forcedto explainit. It is, however,not a
fatalisticMarxism,but one whichsees social lifein a stateof(putative,
reversible)occupationor dominationby capitalism.For the S.I., this
dominationhas been combattedhistorically and bureau-
byinsufficient
craticformsofsocialistopposition,andmustnow be meteverywhere by
new formsofrebellion,new ideologies,new criticism.
The Marxismofthe SituationistInternational developedaroundan
idiomthathas goneunderthe name of the critiqueofreification.The
notionof reificationcomes stronglyinto view withHegel,whose ver-
dinglichung [turning intoa concretethingor object]describestheman-
ifestationoftheIdea [Geist]as itis realizedin materialformsandin social
life.Marxput this conceptto practicalworkby invertingit. ForMarx,
versachlichung turningintoan abstractthingormatter]
[thingification:
describesthe processby whichthe concreteproductsofhistory(social
forms,commodities)are abstractedand frozenin an ideationalstate,
wheretheyacquiretheauraof"nature"orpermanence.Forexample,the
notionof "freedom,"theideologicaldefenseforunregulatedcommerce
whichthe bourgeoisieused as a weapon againstthe ancienregime,has
sincebeenhypostasizedand raisedto the statusofa universalideal.
SinceMarx'sday,materialistcriticismhas wideneditsdiscussionof
reification.By reification,criticaltheoryhas triedto designatea vast
operationcarriedout in all capitalisteconomies,and on thebasis ofthis
analysishas made extendedclaimsaboutseeminglydisconnectedsocial
facts.Fora certainbrandofMarxism,versachlichung has
[thingification]
meant the strategicdivisionof lived experienceinto a set of neutral
abstractions, as an effortundertakenso as to removeimpedimentsto
commerceandprofit taking.As describedbyFredricJameson, theprocess
ofreification is:
... theanalytical
dismantlingofthevarioustraditional
or "natural"
[naturwuchsige] humanrela-
unities(social groups,institutions,
forms
tionships, ofauthority,
activitiesofa cultural
andideologicalas
wellas ofa productive intotheircomponent
nature) partswitha view
towardtheir"taylorization," intomore
thatis, theirreorganization
efficient
systemswhichfunctionaccording toaninstrumental,orbin-
ary,means/ends logic.7
Thisversionofreificationidentifiesa massiveprocessofpost-Enlighten-
menttimes,as wideas theentiresocialformation, withwhichcapitalism
has soughtto consolidateits positionbydisplacingwaysoflifeimperti-
nentto the productionand exchangeofgoodsand services.Elsewhere,
thesociologistMax Webernameda coequal phenomenonin his discus-
sionofthedynamicofrationalization.Webertheorizedthata systematic
7. FredricJameson,The Political Unconscious(Ithaca: Cornell UniversityPress,

1981),227.
EDWARD BALL 27
quantification ofhumanexperiencewas beingcarriedoutin thetermsof
some newlyemergentsocial logic. A plain exampleof rationalization
would be the enterpriseof demographics, the studyof populationsby
meansofincomestatistics,ethnicand genderprofiles, etc.The termhas
elsewherebeen airedin the popularcritiqueof "dehumanization."For
Weber,rationalization would in partmean thereorganization offormer
meansoflivelihoodaccordingto theneedsofcapitalistcommerce.Cot-
tageindustry, or domesticproduction, then,was easilydismantled(but
not eradicated)by capitalism,whichhas insteadrearticulated it into a
new social value or instrument("folkart,"crafts,etc.),with its own
limitedsphereofoperationalongsideotherspheres.Leisure,labor,sport,
religion,theintellect-theseroughmarket-capitalist divisionseventual-
ly give way to the razorsharpspecializationsof our time,whereeach
activityis cutofffromtheone nextto it,whilethebroadermovementof
theirrelationsin the totality -cannotbe seen fromany one site in the
social field.
In one definition,
then,reification (toreturnto theMarxistvocabu-
lary),is the divisionof human experiencegone haywire.Social lifeis
shattered intoan ensembleofhermeticpointsforthepurposeoforganiz-
inga higherunity,thatis, the analyticarrangement of experiencethat
capitalismrequiresforits smoothestoperation.As a consequenceofthis
enterprise, reificationredefinesearliersocial formsand ways of lifeso
thattheyappearto us in a diminishedstate,as a kindofimageorfrozen
tableau. This remarkablefeatureof reification, its cannibalizationof
history,is paramountto understanding the work of the Situationist
International.
The situationistsbuilttheircritiqueon the theoryofreification, a
conceptunderestimated by proponentsof a moretraditionalhistorical
materialism. We havetriedto describethistransformation as thefractur-
ingand rearticulation (the 'thingification')ofthesocial fieldforthehis-
toricalpurposeofenablingthehegemonyofthe capitalistmode ofpro-
duction-a process which, it must be said, is never completed.To
strengthen theiranalysisand popularizeits rhetoric,the situationists
reachedintothebodyofconsumercultureto exploretwosymptoms ofits
disease: alienationand commodification.
In Franceduringthe 1950sand 1960s,,thenotionofalienationwas
mainlyemployedin its postwarcareeras thepreferred termofexisten-
tialistphilosophy.In fact,thejournalL'Internationale.Situationnisteis
rifewiththecantofMarxistexistentialism thatwas reigning at thetime,
withmanyarticlesgivenoverto fiercediatribesagainstthenewformsof
alienationin social life.For the S.I., the main featureand symptomof
contemporary alienationis the gloriousapotheosisof the commodity
form.In twentieth-century Marxistcritique,reification has walked in
lockstepwiththeconceptofcommodification. The twonotionsareinte-
gratedby a means/endslogic,the one (reification) providinga basis or
precedent fortheother(commodification: ofhumanexpe-
thetranslation
rienceintoproductform).The commodityis foundin the centerofthe
situationistcritiqueunderthe disguiseofa new name: the "spectacle."
The firstthesisofDebord'sSocietyoftheSpectacle,paraphrases thefirst
sentencein Marx'schapteron "CommoditiesandMoney"(Capital,vol-
ume 1),substituting forMarx'sword"commodity"therevisednotionof
"spectacle":
Theentirelifeofsocietiesin whichmodemconditions ofproduction
reignannouncesitselfas animmense ofspectacles.
accumulation Ev-
thatwasdirectly
erything livedhasmovedawayintoa representations
Everything thatwas directlylivedhas movedaway intoa represen-
tation.The olderunitiesofpastculturesandoflivedexperienceappearto
us todayas a kindofphantasmor image.The commodityused to be a
materialthing;now it is a spectacularevent.The spectacleis the com-
moditythathas leftitsmaterialbodyon earthandrisentoa newethereal
presence.One doesnotbuyobjects;one buysimagesconnectedto them.
One doesnotbuytheutilityofgoods;onebuystheevanescentexperience
ofownership.Everywhere, one buysthe spectacle.
In thisprofileofthe capitalisteconomythereis a sense ofmodem
debasementthattendsto markall commentary on reification.This de-
basementis by and largea semioticevent.Today the wideningfieldof
commodification is commonlyspokenofas thespreadofso-called"con-
sumerculture"or "media culture"since the Second WorldWar. Yet
these termsfall shortof describingthe phenomenontheypurportto
name.Debordrendersthislate evolutionorrefinement ofcapitalismin a
memorableformula:
Thefirstphasesofthedomination oftheeconomy oversociallifehad
brought ofallhumanrealization
intothedefinition anobviousdegrada-
tionofbeingintohaving.
Thepresent phaseoftotaloccupation ofsocial
lifebytheaccumulatedresultsoftheeconomy leadstoa generalized
sliding
ofhavingintoappearing, from whichall actual"having" must
drawitsimmediate prestigeanditsultimatefunction.9
The image,severedfromall reference,
is themostrecent(final?)form
ofreification,
wherethecommodity becomesa kindofcinematicspecta-
cle thatpressesbackon thehardfactsofsimplepossession.In thisworld,
humanexperienceis a (marketable) copyforwhichtheoriginalhas been
lostorneverevenexisted.ForMarx,writingin the1860s,thecommodity
formhad alreadybegunto recasttheveryrelationsbetweenpeople and
things,subjectsand objects.In Capital, volume 1, Marx writes:"The
commodityis a mysteriousthing.. .. There it is a definitesocial relation
8. Guy Debord,The Societyof the Spectacle,trans.anon. (Detroit:Black and Red,
1970-no copyright),thesisno. 1.
9. Debord,ibid.,thesisno. 17.
EDWARD BALL 29
betweenmen,thatassumes,in theireyes,thefantastic formofa relation
betweenthings."'0 To thisanalysisthesituationists
wouldaddthecave-
at thattoday'scommoditiesbearresemblanceto a languageofimages.
"[The spectacleis] capitalaccumulatedto sucha degreethatit becomes
an image."" The materialfactofa productis supersededbyitsabilityto
signify.
JeanBaudrillard, writingat the same timeas Debord,discovereda
similarcontinentin his book Le Systemedes objets:la consommation
des signes(1968). ForBaudrillard,commodification is at a floodmark
whenproductsbeginto articulateall formsofsocial desire:"The system
of[historical,social]needsnow becomeless coherentthanthesystemof
objectsitself. ."12 In Baudrillard'sexplanationthe commodity/spec-
tacle is the antiheroin the dramaofreification: even as olderformsof
culturearebeingdismantled,a new unity,theunityoftheobjectworld,
risesup to displacethemand takeits leadinghistoricalrole.
In an orthodoxMarxism,thelocale ofpowerand thesiteofits chal-
lengearefocusedin themeansofproduction. RevisionistMarxismsince
1917has relocateditsemphasisoutandawayfromtheproduction econo-
myandtowarda zonewheretheeconomiccontradictions arerepresented
and,in these accounts,actuallycome into conflict.The labels which
variouslydescribethisarenaare "culture,""leisure,"and thelargersys-
temofconsumptionand exchange.An earlydiscussionofthequestion
arose in Germansociologyat the turnof the twentiethcentury.Das
Alltagsleben-everyday life-was thetermappliedtodesignatethemyr-
iad ofpastimesandnonproductive activitiesthatfillthedaysandnights
ofwomenand menwhentheyarenot,strictly speaking,at workselling
theirlaborpower.Anotherdiscussionof everydaylifecomes fromthe
philosopher HenriLefebvre, who firstidentified la vie quotidienneas an
areaforcritiqueinIntroduction a la critiquede la viequotidienne(1947).
The verydate of Lefebvre'sbook radiateswith the aura of peacetime
desirein postwarEuropefortherededicationofeconomicenergiesaway
fromthe war economyand towardleisure and consumption.La Vie
quotidienneof 1947 appearsto us now as the dim prehistory of our
"societyofconsumption," to use one ofBaudrillard's phrases.In another
academictradition, la vie quotidiennemaybe familiarto Englishreaders
as thetargetofcritiquewithinthe bodyof "CulturalStudies"thathas
grownup in Britainsincethe 1950s.CulturalStudiesfirstgotunderway
as theeffort to understandtheimmersionof "workingclass culture"in
thefloodofpostwarcommodification. Whatwas lost,thequestionwent,
in thetriumphofthenew consumerism?
10. KarlMarx,Capital,trans.SamuelMooreandEdwardAveling(NewYork:Interna-
tionalPublishers,1967),vol. 1, 72.
11. Debord,op. cit.,thesisno. 34.
12. JeanBaudrillard, des signes(Paris:Gal-
Le Systemedes objets:la consommation
limard,1968),222.
Amongall ofthesetreatments ofthe concept-German sociology,
culturalstudies,la vie quotidienne-it is Lefebvre'sportrayalthat
framesthingsmosthandilybydefining everyday lifeas thatsocialexperi-
encewhichis leftafterall specializedactivities(paradigmatically: labor)
have beenremoved.Dependingon one's theoreticalposition,theseleft-
overscouldincludea greatdeal,ortheycouldmerelymeantheunformu-
latedsocial libidoin a statepriorto itsarticulation(what,in sociallife,is
"unspecialized" ?). Whateverthecase,everyday lifeformanygenerations
was (continuesto be) theblindspotofMarxistanalysis.It was rumored
thatnothingofimportanceoccursthere,oranywherein factawayfrom
thefurnacesofproduction.
The goalforHenriLefebvre is to conceiveeveryday lifein sucha way
as to retrieveit fromits modernstateofcolonizationbythecommodity
formand othermodes ofreification. A critiqueofthe Everydaycan be
generatedonly by a kind of alienationeffect,insofaras it is put into
contactwithits own radicalother,such as an eradicatedpast (e.g.pre-
capitalistorso-called"folk"culture),oran imaginedfuture(certainuto-
pianprojections, whichcan be glimpsedin Lefebvre'sLe droita'la Vile).
In thisway,theEveryday becomesa termwitha doublemeaning.It is at
one and thesame timea wordofopprobrium (currently, everyday lifeis
bad),and a namingoftheplace wherealternativesocial formsmightbe
organized:"[After thewar,]alienationassumeda new anddeepersignifi-
cance; it deprivedeverydaylifeofits power,disregarding its productive
and creativepotentialities,completelydevaluingit and smothering it
underthespuriousglamourofideologies."'13 Unfortunately, thiskindof
Marxismshows signsof a prisoner'smentality,a feelingofimpossible
confinement whichis rathercommonin thegeneraltheoryofreification.
Butone would hope thatcriticsonlywriteaboutdegradedrealitiesas a
polemicto empowersome attemptto transform social life.Here, the
reconstruction ofeveryday lifecan be seenas a potentially revolutionary
project.Take Lefebvre'sreadingoftheParisCommune.The 1871 Com-
munecan be viewedas a vast act ofa politicsfrombelow,so to speak,
whichfora shorttime rescuedquotidianexperiencefromthe gripof
alienation.In the Communeone can recognizea kindoffestival(Lefeb-
vre'sword)in whichthereigning formsofexperience(thelivedrelation
to statepowerand to theurbanmilieu)weresuddenlyturnedbackin an
explosionofdisalienationand popularsovereignty. The notionofa fes-
tivalorrevoltreturnstous todayin ourselectivememoryofthecounter-
cultureor,to use a betterword,the subculturesofthe 1960s.In these
environs,the SituationistInternationalwas immenselyimportantin
France.For the situationists,rebellionwill be a festivalor it will be
nothingat all.
13. HenriLefebvre,EverydayLifein the ModernWorld,trans.Sacha Rabinovitch
(New York:Harperand Row, 1971),33.
EDWARD BALL 31
DETO URNEMENT AND THE POSTMODERN
We'vetakena longdetourthrough thesedebatesonlyin ordertoreturnto

theSituationistInternational, whichrealizedand practiceda critiqueof
reification thatpreviouslyhad lived onlyat thelevel ofdiscourse.
It is no accidentthatthe key figuresin the S.I. duringthe 1950s
passedunderthe influenceofHenriLefebvre, who briefly workedwith
thegroupand whosetextsfueledthesituationistwritingson urbanand
industriallife.SituationistideologysharedwithLefebvreand othersthe
view that consumercapitalismis a bedeviledworldand an alienated
spectacle,buta worldinwhichthepossibility foran alternativesociallife
has not yet been foreclosed.The situationistsknew how much cap-
italismhad changedsince Marx's time: "Not thatit has becomemore
tolerable.Revolutionhas to be reinvented, that'sall."'14
In the 1950sand 1960s,theS.I. developedthefirstexplosiveaesthet-
ic politicssince the surrealistexperimentsof the twenties.It was an
"aesthetic"strategyin the sense thatits oppositionwas raisedon the
terrainproposedby consumercapitalismitself,the terrainofthe com-
modityand of reifieddaily experience.A pessimisticcritiquewould
abandonhistoryto the frozendialecticof consumerism,which is be-
lievedto arrestpoliticsin a spectaculartableauofmaterialabundance.
But the S.I. celebratedthe prospectof sustainedoppositionin all its
forms.Ifa revolutionofproductionis no longerin reach,one can begin
witha revolutionof consumption.The premise:politicsis in partthe
problemoftheuse or readingofobjects.The program:the reignofthe
spectacularcommoditymaybe combattedbytheintentionalmisrecog-
nitionofexchangevalues.
Beginning withthisarticleoffaith,theS.I. attemptedto teaseout of
sociallifeitshiddenaberrations and momentsofresistance.Theydevel-
opedthetechniqueofthe derive,theday-or week-long"drift"through
everyday life,a kindofrovingresearchalong the marginsofdominant
culture.Forthesituationists, derivismeis an extensionofthebohemian
lifestyle intocriticism,
wherethederiveis intendedtoturnup symptoms
of the breakdownof reification.The derivistewould be a twentieth-
centuryversionofBaudelaire'sflaneur,who has lefttheboulevardsand
takena garretapartmenton the LeftBank,and whosepromenadesnow
rangeall overParis.The derive,an aimlessdriftthroughtheurbanland-
scape,offers evidencethatcapitalismoccasionallystammersin its own
monologueon thepropermeansofliving.Andevidencewas uncovered.
This collectivearticledated1962celebratesthespreading formsofguer-
rillatacticsin thedomainofpoliticsand art:
14. Anon.,"Instructions forTakingUp Arms,"Internationale
Situationniste
no. 6
(August1961),in Knabb,op cit.,63.
On4 August inFrance,
strikingminers
atMerlebach attacked
twenty-
onecarsparkedinfront
ofthemanagement buildings....Whocanfail
toseein this-overandbeyond theinnumerablereasonsthatalways
justify
aggression
onthepartoftheexploited-agesture
ofself-defense
againstthecentralobjectofconsumeralienation?. . . Butit isn'tonly
industrial
workerswhoarefighting againstbrutalization.
TheBerlin
actorWolfgangNeussperpetrated a mostsuggestiveactofsabotage
in
Januarybyplacinga noticein thepaperDerAbendgivingawaythe
ofthekillerina television
identity serialthathadbeenkeep-
detective
ingthemassesinsuspense forweeks.'5
For the situationists,such episodesas thesewere not quixoticdistur-
bances,butpotentiallyrevolutionary acts.
Situationistpracticeadvocatesa kindofguerillawarfarethatunites
formsof art with collective formsof provocation: ". . . introducingthe
ofthedelinquentsontotheplaneofideas.1'6 The bywordfor
aggressivity
thesetacticsis detournement. The mostpersuasiveevidencethatevery-
day lifehas been homogenizedis the factthatthe slightestdeviation
sometimesreverberates farbeyondits space ofemergence.Clearly,any
offenseagainstthe commodityformdoes have potentially"globalim-
plications."This state of affairsprovidesa warrantforthe practiceof
detournement. The Frenchdetournement is sometimestranslatedas
"diversion,"but this renderingomits the word's connotations(in the
originallanguage)ofillicitappropriationand piracy.In English,detour-
nementshouldevokea chainofreference thatincludesthemetonymies
ofdetouring, and the suddenreversalofa previousarticula-
deflection,
tionorpurpose.
Situationistdetournement beganas a theoryofsabotageat thelevel
ofso-called"high"culture.Literaturewas its firsttarget.In a 1957 ex-
periment, artistAsgerJomnand GuyDebordproduceda book,Memoires,
thatconsistedentirelyofpiratedelements.On its pages,theprintranin
all directions,
andtherelationsamongthevariousquotedfragments were
leftunexplained(sentencesbrokenoff,textssuperimposed, etc.). As a
finalgesturetheyboundthebookwitha sandpaperjacket,so thatwhenit
was shelved,it damagedotherbooks.
In thisand otherprojectsone noticesthe hand ofearlysurrealism
tutoring thesituationists.Take thispassage,from"MethodsofDetour-
nement,"a 1956 articlebyGuy Debordand Gil Wolman:
Anyelements,nomatterwheretheyaretakenfrom,
canserveinmak-
ingnewcombinations. ofmodempoetry
Thediscoveries the
regarding
analogical ofimagesdemonstrate
structure thatwhentwoobjectsare
15. Anon.,"The BadDays WillEnd,"Internationale
Situationiste
no. 7 (April1962),in
Knabb,op cit.,83-84.
16. "The Bad Days WillEnd,"87.
EDWARD BALL 33
brought together,no matterhowfaraparttheiroriginal
contexts may
a is
be, relationshipalways formed.... can
Anything be used.'7
But the surrealistprogramremainedan aesthete'sprojectfirstand a
politicalact onlysecondarily,whiledetournement arisesoutoftheeffort
to confront systemsofpowerwithnew formsofopposition,in thebelief
thatthe olderformsofresistance-organizedlabor,partystructures-
have themselvesbecomepartofan expandedhegemony.
The detournistebeginsbydeclaringthat"culture"(in theold sense
ofhighcultureandtext-making) is notan autonomoussphereofactivity,
separatefromotherkindsofcommerce.In thespectacularsocietyevery-
thingis "cultural,"whichis to say a potentialtext,an exchangevalue,
and a commodityall at the same time.JeanBaudrillardhas described
theseconditionsas theresultofa shiftin capitalismfromlimitedcom-
modityproduction intoa kindofhyperproduction orexcessiveexchange.
Hyperproduction-arguably thestatein whichwe now findourselves-
collapsesthe formsofthe linguisticsignand the commodityonto one
anotherfortheapotheosisofunlimitedcommerce:
Thismutationconcerns
thepassagefrom theform-commoditytothe
fromtheabstraction
form-sign, oftheexchange ofmaterial
products
underthelaw ofgeneralequivalence
to theoperationalization
ofall
exchangevalue underthelaw ofthecode ... thepoliticaleconomyof
the sign.'8
ForBaudrillard, thecapitalistdreamofsocial lifeas a vast(semiotic)
poolofexchangeableartifacts has alreadybeenrealized.This sameanaly-
sis risesup in recentdebatessurrounding theconceptofthePostmodern,
which,ifwe acceptthatsucha social formation exists,dependsuponthe
positioning ofa breakin thehistoryofindustrialism, generallysetin the
period1950-60. This breakmarksan intenseheating-upofproduction
and consumptionand the subsequentremovalofa set ofolderprohibi-
tionsto exchangethatstoodin thepathofthegreatpostwarswellingin
commodification. The trademarkof the postmodernis the miscegena-
tion ofpreviouslyopposedlevels of culture,whichnow becomefunc-
tionallyequivalent:commodities/signs, highart/massculture,news/
entertainment, etc.Evidenceofthepostmodern is everywhere thataccel-
eratedcommercecan be found.One examplewould be the 1960s phe-
nomenonofPop Art,whichdrewmomentumfromthenew confusion
betweenmass-produced itemsand thesacredartobjectwithits singular
aura.And thenthereis the (postmodem)"discipline"of semiotics:an
17. GuyDebord,Gil J.Wolman,"MethodsofDktournement," in Knabb,op. cit.,9;

firstpublishedin Les Levres nues no. 8 (May 1956).
18. JeanBaudrillard, The MirrorofProduction,trans.MarkPoster(St. Louis: Telos
Press,1975),121.
academicfieldthatstudies"everything thatcan be takenas a sign,"19
andincludesRolandBarthes'sreadingsoffashion,food,cars,etc.as signi-
fyingsystems.20 A metadiscoursesuchas thishas onlybeenmadepossi-
ble bya new variationin the economy,a steppingup ofreification that
allows theprocessofabstractionto go forward overall obstacles.
Ifthe situationistsdid not have a theoryofthepostmodern, it was
because theypracticedit. The situationistprogramstartsup when one
confusestwolevelsofactivity:detournement makespolitics(levelone)
out ofplagiarismandmisinterpretation (leveltwo).The detourniste un-
derstandsthateveryconsumableobjectis imbeddedin strictensembles
of interpretation and value. An automobilemay be drivenor it may
represent its owner'sclass alignments(itis a commodityand a sign),but
it maynot be put to otheruses (livedin, or destroyedbeforea certain
amountofdecay,etc.).(Fig.1.)One kindofdetournement, then,becomes
thehijackingofcommodities(thatcarrywiththema prescribed reading
orutility)intoheavilycoded,unfamiliarcontexts.In a word,detourne-
mentis the reterritorialization ofthe object.Withverbaltexts,the de-
tournistegetsunderwayby takingan overdetermined text(a cartoon,a
bestseller)and subjectingit to a systematicmisreading.This reinscrip-
tionoftextswas a favoritesituationistpastime,and the S.I. mayhave
originated (ifthatwordcan be appliedhere)thetechniqueofrecaptioning
photographs and comicsthatwas popularizedin thepasteboardpolitics
ofthe 1960s.
Itwouldbepossible,thoughnotdesirable, tounderstand detournement
as a kindofreading procedure. Inthissense,thetextis anyobjectwhoseuse
has beenprescribed forit (itcarriesa readingthatis foreclosed).Detourne-
mentwouldbe theintentional ofthetextanditsrearticula-
disarticulation
tionelsewherein a new set ofreadingconditions. Ironywouldbe a main
feature ofthispractice, insofaras thetextis submitted to a doublereading,
firstin its sanctionedcontext(theprescribed use ofthetext)andnextto a
piratereadingthatcontradicts Finally,thisoverallbusinesswould
thefirst.
havetobe distinguished fromtherelatedpracticeof(academic)deconstruc-
tion,whichshatters thetextas an intellectual exerciseandoffers thealter-
of a
nativepleasure dispersingmeaningthrough gridwork adjacent of
discourses.
Detournement,then,is the tacticof recyclingobjectsforspecific
disjunctiveeffects-amethodthatcan be repeated,andeasilytaught.At
thispointwe shouldremindourselvesthattherecycling oftheobjecthas
been a standardoperation,normalizedin the artworldsince the first
experimentsof the twentieth-century avant-garde, fromMarcel Du-
champ'sready-mades on up throughout thecareerofAndyWarhol.The
19. UmbertoEco, A Theoryof Semiotics(Bloomington: IndianaUniversityPress,
1976),7.
20. Cf.especiallythemiddlesectionofRolandBarthes'sElementsofSemiology,trans.
AnnetteLaversand Colin Smith(New York:Hill andWang,1967).
doa, C
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Figure1. Memoires:structures portantesd'AsgerJorn.Paris:Internationale

Distributionin theUnitedStates:Wittenborn,
situationniste. N.Y., 1969.No
copyright."Cet ouvrageest entierement
composed'6l6mentsprefabriques."
successofthepasticheurin arthistorywould seem to displacethelater
claimsofthedetourniste. Butdetournement, situationisttheoryclaims,
is not the same as pasticheor collage,since it adds two caveatsforthe
(proper)misuse ofthe object,neitherofwhichis observedby pastiche
of culturalpiracyon a mass
aesthetics.These are: 1) the proliferation
scale,and 2) thispiracyas a collectiveand anonymousactivity.
THE SOCIETY OF THE SITUATIONIST

Whatis tobe saidforthisbehavior?Has itarisenelsewhere,outsideofthe
local scene of Paris,1960-70? Yes, of course,and massively.Take the
case ofcapitalism's"untouchables,"its subcultures.In Subculture:the
MeaningofStyle,Dick Hebdigeuses Levi-Strauss's notionofbricolageto
characterize thelifestyles
and thefashionsofrebelliousyoungpeoplein
Britainfromthe 1950sforward. These ersatzcollectivities,
theMods and
theRockers,punksand TeddyBoys,have one afteranotherplayedwith
the styleand poses of the dominantculturein aberrantways so as to
foreground theirown statusas misfits(detournedsubjects?).The book
givesan exhaustivecatalogofmoderngesturesoftransgression, which
have widenedin scope and appeal since the 1960s. For Hebdige,the
birthmark ofa subcultureis its maverickuse of "style":
Byrepositioningandre-contextualizing
commodities,
bysubverting
theirconventional
usesandinventingnewones,thesubcultural
styl-
ist... opensuptheworldofobjectstonewandcovertly
oppositional
readings.2'
Butit is not,as Subculturesuggests,merelyin theexcludedwingsof
societiesthatthe bricoleurdoes his/herwork,or at least it is not any
longer.Whatthe situationistsheld out as a populistrevolutionary pol-
iticshas nowbeenturnedintocommerce,is a roaringsuccess,a standard-
ized formatthroughout theleadingcapitalistnations.We arenow living
in thesocietyofthedetourniste. Detournement has becomeaxiomaticto
profit-making, and like surrealism,a mass phenomenon.The cultofthe
displacedobjecthas developedthe contoursofan industry in design,in
clothing,in architecture, even food-in short,in everymarketplaceof
postwarcapitalism.Everything thatwas once made now reappearsas a
fragment in the hands of thepasticheur.Whatcould not be converted
intocash flowused to be expendable,butthisproblemhas been solved:
thanksto detournement, everything maystayin thestreamoftheecono-
my,eventheexpendable.In France,one hearsofle retro,thedusting-off
andrehabilitation ofdeadtexts,deadcommodities, deadformsin design,
dead lifestyles.Le retrois detournement as a bottom-lineenterprise, a
goingconcern.Le retro,in a pleasantparadox,is easilyrecognizedin the
21. Dick Hebdige,Subculture:TheMeaningofStyle(NewYork:Methuen,1979),102.
EDWARD BALL 37
prefix"neo-." Neorealism,neoartdeco,neogreaser, neo-1960s-soon it
willbe,no doubt,neo-Depression, neo-Navajo,neo-Eisenhower ..., and
thereis plentyofroomformore.This is not to say thattherecyclingof
culturalelementsno longerdestabilizesinstitutions; it maystillpresent
a menace,at least in its most aggressiveforms.On the otherhand,a
theoristofreification mighthave foreseen, in a kindofworst-caseflash-
forward, theassimilationofthisexplosivepoliticsintoa profitable ven-
ture,a recuperation thatthe situationistsfiercelyresisted.
How can one explainthisgiganticspreading-out ofdetournement?
To answerthis question,we would do well to returnto a traditional
Marxistparadigm.It is necessaryforcapitalismto reproduceand extend
itself,but thisis not easily accomplished.In peacetimeespecially,the
continuousexpansionofproductionmaypose a threatbyoverwhelming
insufficientdemand.At thispoint,theneedforcontinuedexchange(the
onlyde jureaxiomin capitalism:thatone exchanges)arousesa searchfor
othersaleable items. The commodityformgoes hunting.The mar-
ketplacethrowsopen the doorsofhistoryto marchout dead forms,so
thatproductionand consumptioncan once again be rejuvenated.This
momentis the birthofBaudrillard'swell-knownsimulacrum,the mo-
mentwhenreification and commodification meetand converge,where
theyhad previouslylivedonlyin friendly solidarity.
One shouldnot(as I havedonejustnow)makea fairytaleoutofthese
operations, whichotherwisemakeup a highlyrational,andtodayglobal,
enterprise. On the otherhand,the networkof thingsunderdiscussion
here-the situationistproject,the cult and the cultureofthedisplaced
object(ofwhichdetoumementis merelya part),the cannibalizationof
history-thisentirearrangement may be just the outsidecontourof a
much largerhistoricalprocess or curvature,a new social formation
whichis markedbythevisibilityofall thingsandbytheconversionofall
activityinto gestureand into performance forthe streamlining of ex-
change,an overall movementwhose deliriumHenri Lefebvreonce
sensedin "theconsumingofdisplays,displaysofconsuming, consuming
ofdisplaysofconsuming,consumingofsigns,signsofconsuming."Con-
sumingofsignsofconsuming.

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The Great Sideshow of the Situationist International

Author(s): Edward Ball

SIRE, I AM FROM THE OTHER COUNTRY

THE SITUATIONISTS DO PARIS

THE GREAT SHOW OF REIFICATION

7. FredricJameson,The Political Unconscious(Ithaca: Cornell UniversityPress,

We'vetakena longdetourthrough thesedebatesonlyin ordertoreturnto

17. GuyDebord,Gil J.Wolman,"MethodsofDktournement," in Knabb,op. cit.,9;

nmesure que ic temps passait 401r*

O*iMLLR WE DOlT OW, fRmvoise ru AS vU fE GRQAND CAYEsrf'VOvuS L' C

Figure1. Memoires:structures portantesd'AsgerJorn.Paris:Internationale

THE SOCIETY OF THE SITUATIONIST

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