Appendix 4 Chronology of the Lettrist International and the Situationist International

1951

– In April, meets Lettrist leader Isidore Isou and several other Lettrists at the Cannes Film Festival. – In the summer, Debord graduates from high school in Cannes, moves to , and joins Isou and the Lettrists. – Throughout 1951, Debord spends much of his time at his favorite bar, Chez Moineau, where he meets several people who would become important to him during that time, including Gil Wolman, Michele Bernstein, Ivan Cht- cheglov, Eliane Papai, and Jean-Michel Mension.

1952

– In February, Wolman screens his only film L’Anticoncept. – In June, Debord screens his first film, Howls in Favor of Sade; the audience erupts in anger, halting the screening. – In October, Debord, Wolman, and two other Lettrists perpetrate the “No More Flat Feet!” scandal against Charlie Chaplin, an action Isou distanced himself from in a newspaper article. – In December, Debord, Wolman, and other Lettrists split from Isou to form the Lettrist International (LI).

1953

– In early 1953, Debord artistically manifests the LI’s contempt for wage slav- ery when he scrawls “Ne Travaillez Jamais!” (“Never Work!”) on a wall on the rue de Seine. – In October, Chtcheglov presents Debord with his poetic manifesto, “Formu- lary for a New Urbanism.”

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1954

– In June, the LI publishes the first issue of Potlatch, which will continue to be published semi-regularly through much of 1957, when the Situationist International is formed. – In June, Chtcheglov is excluded from the LI after he is arrested for destroy- ing a bar during a drunken rage and is committed to a psychiatric institu- tion, where he remained for several years. – In June, the LI contributes an article about and the dérive to the journal La Carte d’Apres Nature, published by the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte. – In August, Debord and Bernstein marry in Paris. – By December, fifteen issues of Potlatch have been published.

1955

– In early 1955, Danish artist (1914–1973), founder of the avant- garde group the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus (IMIB) in 1953, contacts Debord after a friend gives him a copy of Potlatch. – In September, Debord’s article about psychogeography, titled “Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography,” is published in Belgian surrealist Marcel Marien’s journal Les Levres Nues (The Naked Lips). – By December, issues 16–24 of Potlatch have been published.

1956

– In May, Debord and Wolman publish “Method of Détournement” in Les Levres Nues. – In September, Jorn and fellow IMIB member and artist Giuseppe Gallizio (1902–1964), hold the First World Congress of Free Artists in Alba, Italy. The congress draws a dozen artists from eight countries. Gil Wolman is the sole representative for the Lettrist International. – In November, Debord publishes “Theory of the Dérive” in Les Levres Nues. – By December, issues 25–27 of Potlatch have been published.

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1957

– In January, Debord excludes Wolman from the LI. – In May, Debord and Jorn collaborate on a détourned map titled The Naked City, the most well-known visual representation of psychogeography and the dérive. – Also in May, Jorn and Debord collaborate on another détournement—Jorn’s book Fin de Copenhague. – The Situationist International’s founding conference is held in late July in the remote village of Cosio d’Arroscia in northern Italy. The founding mem- bers are Debord and Bernstein of the LI; Asger Jorn, Giuseppe Gallizio, Wal- ter Olmo, , and Elena Verrone of the IMIB; and the British artist . – During the week of meetings at Cosio, Debord presents his essay Report on the Construction of Situations. – In December, Debord and Jorn collaborate on Debord’s collage book Mémoires. – By the end of 1957, Debord publishes the last issue of Potlatch.

1958

– On January 25–26, the SI’s second conference is held in a bar in Paris; the main decision made is to exclude SI founding members Simondo, Olmo, and Verrone. – In mid-April, the SI perpetrates its “Battle of Brussels” intervention of the International Assembly of Art Critics conference at the Brussels World’s Fair, also called Expo ’58. – On May 30, the first exhibition of Gallizio’s industrial painting takes place at Gallery Notizie in Turin, Italy. – In June, the first issue of Internationale Situationniste is published, which includes Chtcheglov’s 1953 “Formulary for a New Urbanism,” as well as a note on the exclusion of Ralph Rumney. – In the fall, Jorn exhibits paintings at a gallery in , where he meets the artists of the Spur group: , , , and Hans Peter Zimmer. – Also in the fall, Debord visits in and encourages him to become more active in the SI; they collaborate on “The Amsterdam Declaration.”

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– In November, Debord détourns the event “Is Dead or Alive?” by delivering his insulting critique of surrealism via a tape-recording. – In December, Debord publishes issue two of Internationale Situationniste.

1959

– In April, the SI’s third conference takes place in Munich; several new mem- bers attend, including Constant and the Spur group artists. – On May 1, International Worker’s Day, Debord publishes Mémoires. – On May 4, Constant presides over an exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam of work that he had been doing on New Babylon. – On May 6, Jorn opens an exhibition at the Galerie Rive Gauche in Paris of a series of paintings that he called “Modifications.” – On May 13, Gallizio opens his Cavern of Anti-Matter exhibition at the Drouin Gallery in Paris. – In the fall, Debord finishes editing his second film, On the Passage of a Few People through a Rather Brief Moment in Time. – In December, Debord publishes issue three of Internationale Situationniste.

1960

– Early 1960, Debord meets Henri Lefebvre. – In March, Debord pulls out of the SI’s “The World as Labyrinth” exhibit at the Stedelijk Museum. – In late May, Debord excludes founding SI member Giuseppe Gallizio. – In June, Constant resigns from the SI after disputes with Debord over the latter’s exclusions of two fellow Dutch members. – In the summer, Jorn recruits his brother Jorgen Nash, his lover , and a group of Scandinavian artists into the SI. – Debord also recruits new members into the SI, including Attila Kotanyi. – In June, Debord publishes the fourth issue of Internationale Situationniste. – In July, Debord publishes the tract “Preliminaries Toward Defining a Unitary Revolutionary Program,” co-authored by Daniel Blanchard, who was a mem- ber of the leftist group Socialism or Barbarism. – In the fall, Debord becomes a dues-paying member of Socialism or Barba- rism. – In August, Bernstein’s détournement novel All the King’s Horses is published by the prestigious publishing house Buchet-Chastel.

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– From September 24–28, the SI’s fourth conference is held, when nine mem- bers representing the French, Belgian, German, and Scandinavian sections convene in . – In October, Debord and Bernstein sign the “Manifesto of the 121.” – In December, Debord publishes the fifth issue of Internationale Situationniste.

1961

– In early 1961, Debord invites to join the SI. – In early spring, Debord films and edits his third film, Critique of Separation. – In April, Asger Jorn resigns from the SI but continues to financially sup- port the group and occasionally contributes articles under the pseudonym George Keller. Jorn and Debord remain friends until Jorn’s death in 1973. – In April, Debord resigns from the Socialism or Barbarism group. – In May, Debord’s tape-recorded lecture titled “Perspectives for Conscious Changes in Everyday Life” is played at an academic conference organized by Henri Lefebvre; Debord does not appear at the conference. – In August, Debord publishes the sixth issue of Internationale Situationniste. – In late August, the SI’s infamous fifth conference takes place in Gothenburg, . Tensions erupt into arguments between the artists aligned with Jorgen Nash and the members aligned with Debord. – After the Gothenburg conference, Debord, Vaneigem, and Kotanyi stop in Hamburg, where they produce “The Hamburg Theses.” – In September of 1961, Bernstein publishes her second détournement novel, The Night. – In November, the Spur artists get into legal trouble with Munich authorities because of the “pornographic” nature of an issue of their journal.

1962

– On February 10–11, the SI’s Central Council meets in Paris; Debord, Vanei- gem, Kotanyi and others exclude the Spur artists. – The Spur artists’ exclusion precipitates the resignations of Nash, de Jong, and the rest of the Scandinavian artists in March, marking the end of the SI’s first phase. – In April, Debord publishes issue seven of Internationale Situationniste; it includes part one of Raoul Vaneigem’s important article “Basic Banalities” (part two appears in issue eight).

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– In the summer, Nash, de Jong, and several other Scandinavian artists offi- cially announce the formation of the Second Situationist International. – In November, the SI holds its sixth conference in Antwerp.

1963

– In January, Debord publishes issue eight of Internationale Situationniste. – Early in 1963, Debord meets Alice Becker-Ho; they begin living together shortly after. For a time, Bernstein continues on as an SI member. – In the spring, the SI accepts Rene Vienet into the group. – In March, Debord and Bernstein meet with a Japanese radical student group named Zengakuren. – In June, the SI’s Destruction RSG-6 manifestation opens at the EXI Gallery in Odense, Denmark. – In December, Attila Kotanyi is excluded from the SI.

1964

– In January, excluded SI founding member Giuseppe Gallizio dies from a heart attack. – In August, Debord publishes issue nine of Internationale Situationniste; it includes a contribution from titled “Letters from Afar” and SI member JV Martin’s infamous détourned photo of Christine Keeler. – In the fall, future SI member Mustapha Khayati contacts Debord after read- ing several issues of Internationale Situationniste.

1965

– In January, Martin, based in Denmark, is charged with “crimes against morality and good custom,” and “injury to the Danish Royalty” because he distributed pamphlets that included the Christine Keeler détourned photo. – In March, Martin leads protestors against the military exercises to be held in Randers, Denmark. – In March, Martin’s house is firebombed—nobody was injured. – In March, Khayati and several other Strasbourg students interrupt a confer- ence featuring Professor Abraham Moles on the University of Strasbourg campus.

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– In the fall, Debord and Khayati co-author an article titled “Address to Rev- olutionaries in Algeria and All Countries” that discusses the recent coup d’etat in Algeria in June. – In the fall, Debord publishes “The Decline and Fall of the Spectacle-Com- modity Economy” about the Watts Rebellion of South Los Angeles that erupted during the week of August 11–16. – In the fall, Donald Nicholson-Smith and TJ Clark contact Debord and become the first two members of an English section of the SI.

1966

– In March, Debord publishes issue ten of Internationale Situationniste. – On July 9–11, the SI holds its seventh conference in Paris. Attendees include Strasbourg students Jean Garnault, Theo Frey, Edith Frey, and Herbert Holl, who are eventually admitted to the SI based on the action taken against Moles. – In the fall, Chris Gray and , who publish a journal in titled Heatwave, are accepted into the SI’s English section. – In May, Andre Schneider and Bruno Vayr-Piova are elected as president and vice-president of the student union at the University of Strasbourg. They contact Debord during the summer, stating that they wish to dismantle the student union and protest patriarchal authority on campus. Debord orches- trates an intervention. – On October 26, 1966, Khayati and other students disrupt a public speech by Abraham Moles. – Also on October 26, thousands of copies of Andre Bertrand’s comic strip The Return of the Durutti Column are distributed across Strasbourg’s campus. – On November 22, ten-thousand copies of Mustafa Khayati’s On the Poverty of Student Life (paid for by depleting all of the student union’s funds) are distributed on Strasbourg’s campus. – By the end of the fall semester, protesting students at Strasbourg shut down the campus, student leaders are charged with disrupting campus life, and the media write about the shadowy influence of the Situationist Interna- tional in fulminating the protests.

1967

– In January, the four recently-admitted Strasbourg students, pejoratively dubbed by Debord as “The Garnaultians,” are excluded from the SI.

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– In March, Debord sends Tony Verlaan to the US to seek out radicals who share the SI’s ideas about revolution. – In the summer, members of two radical left student groups from Nanterre University contact Debord to express their interest in collaborating with the SI to foster protests at Nanterre over the partriarchal and authoritarian pol- icies of Nanterre’s administration. – In the fall, the students distribute copies of On the Poverty of Student Life and The Return of the Durutti Column on Nanterre’s campus. – Throughout the fall semester, a series of student protests take place on Nan- terre’s campus. – In October, Debord publishes issue eleven of Internationale Situationniste. – In late fall, Michele Bernstein resigns from the SI. – In November, Debord’s book The Society of the Spectacle is published. – In November, Vaneigem travels to New York and meets Bruce Elwell and Robert Chasse, two Americans who eventually become members of the American section of the SI with Tony Verlaan. – During the trip, Vaneigem is repulsed by the “mystics” Ben Morea and Allan Hoffman of the group Black Mask; for the SI, Morea and Hoffman become immediate enemies. – In December, Vaneigem’s The Revolution of Everyday Life is published. – In December, Debord excludes members of the SI’s English section for their continued contact with Morea.

1968

– In January, Nanterre student Daniel Cohn-Bendit becomes a main target of Dean Grappin for his activist actions throughout the fall semester of 1967. – Dean Grappin also disciplines future SI members Rene Riesel and Patrick Cheval, who call themselves the Enragés. – The Enragés contact Debord, who agrees to collaborate on future interven- tions at Nanterre. – On March 22, hundreds of students occupy Nanterre University’s adminis- trative building, causing Dean Grappin to shut down the university. – Cohn-Bendit becomes the “media star” spokesperson of the March 22 Move- ment. – Cohn-Bendit, Rene Riesel, and other Nanterre students are subject to disci- plinary actions and become known as the “Nanterre 8.” – On May 6, the disciplinary actions against the Nanterre 8, held at the Sor- bonne, are disrupted when police violently clash with and arrest hundreds of protesting students.

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– On May 10, over twenty thousand people—among them are Debord, Riesel, and other SI members and Enragés—gather in the Latin Quarter to demon- strate the police presence at the Sorbonne. – On May 14, hundreds of people, mostly students, occupy the Sorbonne; among them are the Enragés, Debord, and other SI members. – Riesel is among those elected to the Occupation Committee at the Sor- bonne. – On May 14, workers at the Sud-Aviation factory in Nantes (just outside of Paris) occupy their plant and lock the director and all managers in their offices. – From May 14–17, several more factories are occupied by workers, caus- ing Riesel to call for student marches to the factories to support the workers. – The Occupation Committee fails to bring about a vote on its mandate to link up with workers. This impasse causes Debord, Riesel, and the other SI and Enragés members to leave the Sorbonne, occupy the National Institute of Pedagogy, and create the Council for the Maintenance of Occupations, or CMDO. – For the rest of May and early June, the CMDO members make posters, write tracts, and create détourned comics that they distribute at the Sorbonne, throughout the Latin Quarter, and in other parts of Paris. – After the strikes on May 14–15, wildcat strikes rapidly engulf France over the next week and a half. – By late May, over ten-million striking workers bring the economy—and the political system—to a standstill. – On May 30, President de Gaulle delivers a nationally broadcast radio address during which he announces that he will not resign, that he is dissolving the national assembly, that new elections will soon take place for president and assembly seats, and that all workers are to stop their strikes and return to work. – Responding to de Gaulle’s speech, over three hundred thousand people from France’s patriotic right take to the streets against the students and striking workers, inflicting devastating violence on the protesters. – By mid-June, Debord, Vaneigem, Riesel, and the other SI and Enragés mem- bers dissolve the CMDO and leave France to avoid being arrested; they travel to Brussels and meet at Vaneigem’s apartment. – In July, they complete their collectively-authored account of their involve- ment in the occupations, titled Enragés and Situationists in the Occupation Movement, France, May ’68, after which they return to Paris. – In October, Enragés and Situationists in the Occupation Movement, France, May ’68 is published.

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1969

– In January, an American section of the SI is officially formed, composed of Tony Verlaan, Bruce Elwell, and Robert Chasse; Jon Horelick joins at a later date. – Also in January, an Italian section of the SI is formed, composed of Gianfranco Sanguinetti, Claudio Pavan, Paolo Salvadori, and Eduardo Rothe. – In June, the SI’s American section publishes its first and only issue of its journal. – In July, the SI’s Italian section publishes the first and only issue of its journal Internazionale Situationista. – In September, Debord publishes issue twelve of Internationale Situation- niste and announces he is stepping down as editor of the journal, leaving others to decide who will take over. – Rene Vienet assumes the role of main editor of the SI’s journal, with the Edi- torial Committee composed of Rene Riesel, Christian Sebastiani, and Fran- cois Beaulieu; these members will ultimately fail to put out another issue of the SI’s journal. – From September 25 to October 1, the SI holds its eighth and final conference, in Venice; the conference is the SI’s largest, attended by all eighteen mem- bers representing the French, Italian, Scandinavian, and American sections. The most important decision made is that the SI would engage in an “ori- entation debate” about what the organization’s direction should be going forth.

1970

– From January 17–19, delegates from the remaining SI sections meet in the German cities of Wolsfeld and Trier, where they decide to discontinue the SI’s American section, excluding Chasse and Elwell. – In April, the French section decides to discontinue the SI’s Italian section, excluding Pavan, Salvadori, and Rothe. – After several other exclusions from the French section throughout 1970, eleven members remain: Debord, Vaneigem, Vienet, Riesel, Sebastiani, de Beaulieu, Verlaan, Horelick, Sanguinetti, Salvadori, and Martin. – On November 11, the trio of Debord, Vienet, and Riesel establish a “ten- dency” within the SI against Vaneigem and those members who are aligned with him. – On November 14, Vaneigem resigns from the SI.

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– After more exclusions and resignations in the wake of Vaneigem’s resigna- tion, the remaining SI members are Debord, Sanguinetti, Vienet, Riesel, and Martin.

1971

– In February, Vienet resigns. – In September, a facsimile of the twelve issues of Internationale Situation- niste is published by the Amsterdam-based publisher Van Gennep. – Also in September, Riesel is excluded, leaving Debord, Sanguinetti, and Mar- tin as the remaining members of the SI.

1972

– In January, L’Internationale Situationniste: Protagonistes, Chronologie, Bibli- ographie is published by Champ Libre with Debord’s approval. – In April, Debord publishes the book The Real Split in the International, which marks the official dissolution of the Situationist International. (Debord wrote the book but added Sanguinetti’s name as co-author.)

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