Skip to main content

Walking Off the Big Apple with the Situationist International

I've recently been reading fascinating, stimulating, and exasperating literature by members of the Situationist International, an avant-garde assembly of street-aware groups active in Europe in the late 1950s and the 1960s.

Paris, with its ancient central core, a multitude of meandering streets, and engineered wide and straight boulevards, served as their main laboratory. This tight-knit but contentious group, whose central figure was an impassioned, brilliant and sometimes ill-tempered intellectual by the name of Guy Debord, took upon themselves an intense investigation of what they called psychogeography, an inquiry into the ways our environment affects emotions and behavior.

Their advocacy for a radical rethinking of how we relate to our own physical environment and the ways we interact with the street in our everyday life should appeal to anyone fantasizing an escape from their normal route (and routine). Reading their essays in Situationist International: Anthology, edited and translated by Ken Knabb (Berkeley: Bureau of Public Secrets, rev. and expanded 2006), is already causing me to rethink how I relate to the streets of New York.

The Situationists sought to challenge the ideology and power of urban planners in post-war Europe and what they perceived as the deadening imposed conformity of these plans. The Situationists were inspired by their predecessors in the surrealist and dadaist avant-garde, but their anarchist politics took them beyond the dictates of the subconscious. The world of dreams and the irrational was not the final frontier. Rebellious to the core, they eschewed following the paths dictated by the state, a notion they took literally.

The revolutionary frontier was the street. The events of May 1968 took place within a complex organization of barricades, the result of tactical manoeuvres by students who had read their Situationist texts. The uprising is sometimes cited as the culmination of these works.

Through their strategy of dérive, a complex practice of unplanned walks, and the concept of détournement, a form of culture jamming, the Situationists seem truly visionary. Yet, Guy Debord and his associates were not alone in questioning the shape of the modern city. Jane Jacobs' resistance to the New York of Robert Moses comes to mind. Her influential book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, dating from 1961 and contemporaneous with the Situationists, celebrates chaos, natural urban order and the camaraderie engendered by historic neighborhoods of a human scale. Of course, as a resident of Greenwich Village, the book is pretty much required reading. The points of departure are considerable, however, only partially explained by the historical, political, cultural and ideological differences between the United States and France.

Debord introduces his essay "Theory of the Dérive" (1958) with the necessary distinction: " One of the basic situationist practices is the dérive, a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiences. Dérives involve playful-constructive behavior and awareness of psychogeographical effects, and are thus quite different from the classic notions of journey or stroll." In a dérive, Debord writes, the person lets go of any preconceptions and normal motives to "let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there."

I have not made my way through the anthology adequately enough to comment further, but I am in process of some self-psychoanalysis with regard to my chosen identity as a flâneuse. After these readings (on top of Walter Benjamin's famous flâneur critique) the concept seems hopelessly bourgeois. Re-reading some of my writings, though, I might already be engaged in some situationist practices and just didn't know it. I may be up for this game. At the very least, I'll be more aware of the false barriers that separate spaces in the city and will keep my eyes open to new possibilities within the great urban labyrinth. My goal is not passive tourism but the re-enchantment of the street. I may have found some new company here.

Image: Le parapluie rose de Greenwich Village. August 2008. Walking Off the Big Apple.

Comments

  1. I'm passing on a newsletter that I received from the Bureau of Pubic Secrets. The website features an extensive collection of Situationist International documents.

    The title of the newsletter, "A Pioneer of Situationist Psychogeography," refers to Ivan Chtcheglov.

    "FORMULARY FOR A NEW URBANISM"
    (first translation of the complete text by Ivan Chtcheglov)
    http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/Chtcheglov.htm

    "But can I ever forget the one whom I see everywhere in the greatest moment
    of our adventures -- he who in those uncertain days opened up a new path and
    forged ahead so rapidly, choosing those who would accompany him? No one else
    was his equal that year. It might almost have been said that he transformed
    cities and life merely by looking at them. In a single year he discovered
    enough material for a century of demands; the depths and mysteries of urban
    space were his conquest. The powers that be, with their pitiful falsified
    information that misleads them almost as much as it bewilders those under
    their administration, have not yet realized just how much the rapid passage
    of this man has cost them" (Guy Debord).

    Debord is recalling Ivan Chtcheglov, with whom he made many of his
    pioneering "psychogeographical" explorations and experiments in the early
    1950s. Until now Chtcheglov has remained an obscure and mysterious figure,
    known only for a single abridged text ("Formularly for a New Urbanism"), a
    few letters written from the mental hospital where he spent most of the
    later part of his life, and a few intriguing reminiscences by Debord and his
    contemporaries. Editions Allia has just published a biographical study by
    Jean-Marie Apostolidès and Boris Donné, "Ivan Chtcheglov, profil perdu",
    along with a slim volume of Chtcheglov's "Écrits retrouvés" that includes
    the first publication of the complete "Formulary". This complete version has
    been translated by Ken Knabb at http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/Chtcheglov.htm



    * * *

    Texts of related interest at the same website:

    "Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography" (Debord)
    http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/urbgeog.htm

    "Proposals for Rationally Improving the City of Paris"
    (Lettrist International)
    http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/paris.htm

    "Theory of the Dérive" (Debord)
    http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/2.derive.htm

    "Situationist Theses on Traffic" (Debord)
    http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/3.traffic.htm

    "Another City for Another Life" (Constant)
    http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/3.constant.htm

    "Elementary Program of the Bureau of Unitary Urbanism" (Kotanyi & Vaneigem)
    http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/6.unitaryurb.htm

    "Territorial Domination"
    (chapter of Debord's "The Society of the Spectacle")
    http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord/7.htm

    "In girum imus nocte et consumimur igni"
    (Debord film featuring a eulogy to Chtcheglov)
    http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord.films/ingirum.htm

    "Banning Cars from Manhattan" (Paul & Percival Goodman)
    http://www.bopsecrets.org/CF/goodman-cars.htm

    "Urbanism and Community Planning" (Kenneth Rexroth)
    http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/essays/urbanism.htm

    "The Blossoming of Free Communities"
    (section of Ken Knabb's "The Joy of Revolution")
    http://www.bopsecrets.org/PS/joyrev4.htm

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A New York Spring Calendar: Blooming Times and Seasonal Events

See the UPDATED 2018 CALENDAR HERE . Updated for 2017 . At this time of year, thoughts turn to spring. Let's spring forward to blooming times, the best locations for witnessing spring's beginnings, and springtime events in the big city. While the occasional snow could blow through the city, we're just weeks now from callery pears in bloom and opening day at the ballpark. In The Ramble, Central Park. mid-April Blooming Times •  Central Park Conservancy's website  lists blooming times within the park. During the month of March we begin to see crocus, daffodils, forsythia, snowdrops, witch-hazel, and hellebores. Species tulips will emerge in several places, but the Shakespeare Garden and Conservatory Garden are particularly good places to catch the beginning of Spring blooms. Central Park near E. 72nd St., saucer magnolia, typically end of March. •  Citywide Blooming Calendar from New York City Department of Parks & Recreation April is u

25 Things To Do Near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

(updated 2016) The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at 11 W. 53rd Street is near many other New York City attractions, so before or after a trip to the museum, a short walk in any direction could easily take in additional experiences. Drawing a square on a map with the museum at the center, a shape bounded by 58th Street to the north and 48th Street to the south, with 7th Avenue to the west and Park Avenue to the east, proves the point of the area's cultural richness. (A map follows the list below.) While well-known sightseeing stops fall with these boundaries, most notably Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the great swath of famous Fifth Avenue stores, cultural visitors may also want to check out places such as the Austrian Cultural Forum, the 57th Street galleries, the Onassis Cultural Center, and the Municipal Art Society. The image above shows an intriguing glimpse of the tops of two Beaux-Arts buildings through an opening of the wall inside MoMA's scu

Museums in New York Open on Mondays

Please see this post for current announcements of reopenings . Please consult the museum websites for changes in days and hours. UPDATED September 23, 2020 Advance tickets required for many museum reopenings. Please check museum websites for details. • The  Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)  reopened to the public on  August 27 , with new hours for the first month, through September 27: from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday to the public; and from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m.  on Mondays for MoMA members on ly. Admission will be free to all visitors Tuesday through Sunday, through September 27, made possible by UNIQLO. See this  new post on WOTBA for a sense of the experience attending the museum . •  New-York Historical Society  reopened on  August 14  with an outdoor exhibition, "Hope Wanted: New York City Under Quarantine,” in the rear courtyard. The exhibit by activist Kevin Powell and photographer Kay Hickman will highlight how New Yorkers weathered the quarantine

25 Things to Do Near the American Museum of Natural History

After visiting the American Museum of Natural History, explore attractions on the Upper West Side or in Central Park. Visitors to New York often run around from one major tourist site to the next, sometimes from one side of the city to the other, and in the process, exhaust themselves thoroughly. Ambitious itineraries often include something like coffee in the Village in the morning, lunch near MoMA, a couple of hours in the museum, a ride on the Staten Island Ferry in the afternoon, cocktails at the midtown hotel, a quick dinner, and then a Broadway show. It's a wonder people don't pass out at the theater. While sitting on the steps of the American Museum of History, consider exploring the Upper West Side and nearby sites of interest in Central Park. There's a better way to plan a New York trip. Consider grouping attractions together geographically. Several posts on this site address this recommended approach. The Wild West of the Tecumseh Playground Groupin

The High Line and Chelsea Market: A Good Pairing for a Walk

(revised 2017) The advent of spring, with its signs of growth and rebirth, is apparent both on the High Line , where volunteers are cutting away the old growth to reveal fresh blooms, and inside the Chelsea Market, where new tenants are revitalizing the space. A walk to take in both can become an exploration of bounty and surprise, a sensual walk of adventure and sustenance. A good pairing for a walk: The High Line and Chelsea Market Walking the High Line for a round trip from Gansevoort to W. 30th and then back again adds up to a healthy 2-mile walk. Regular walkers of the elevated park look for an excuse to go there. Especially delightful is showing off the park, a model of its kind, to visitors from out of town. A stroll through Chelsea Market. Time check. If you haven't stopped into Chelsea Market lately, you may want to take a detour from the High Line at the stairs on W. 16th St. and walk through the market for a quick assessment or a sampling. Among the sampli

Taking a Constitutional Walk

A long time ago individuals going out for a walk, especially to get fresh air and exercise, often referred to the activity as "taking a constitutional walk." The word "constitutional" refers to one's constitution or physical makeup, so a constitutional walk was considered beneficial to one's overall wellbeing. (Or, as some would prefer to call it, "wellness.") The phrase is more common in British literature than in American letters. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, many American commentators expressed concern that their countrymen were falling into lazy and unhealthy habits. Newspaper columnists and editorial writers urged their readers to take up the practice of the "constitutional" walk. One such essay, " Walking as an Exercise," originally printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and reprinted in New England Farmer , Volume 11, 1859, urges the people of farm areas to take up walking. City dwellers seemed to have the

25 Things to Do Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

(updated) Sitting on the steps in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of those iconic things to do in New York City. On a sunny day, the wide steps can become crowded with the young and old, the tourist and the resident. It's tempting to stay awhile and soak in the sun and the sights. Everyone has reasons for lingering there, with one being the shared pleasure of people watching along this expansive stretch of Fifth Avenue, a painting come to life. Certainly, just getting off one's feet for a moment is welcome, especially if the previous hours involved walking through the entirety of art history from prehistoric to the contemporary. The entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue The Metropolitan Museum of Art should be a singular pilgrimage, uninterrupted by feeble attempts to take in more exhibitions along Museum Mile. Pity the poor visitor who tries "to do" multiple museum exhibitions in one day, albeit ambitious, noble, and uplift

Introducing Birds of Inwood

Introducing a New Website It's been a moment since I posted last. Please forgive me. I have been in the forest down the street. After spending many of my leisure hours taking photographs of birds in my local neighborhood of Inwood, I am introducing to you a new website featuring these beautiful and often enigmatic creatures. It's called  Birds of Inwood . As I write there, "Inwood is my Amherst." With time, my advancing age, and the pandemic, I have learned to find depth and beauty in places close to home.  I have also found to my delight that designing a new website presents great opportunities. Birds of Inwood is pretty flashy! The birds are even larger than life on these new pages! Please visit. You'll be glad I didn't call it "Flying Off the Big Apple." Check out my forest home. - Teri

14 Useful Mobile Apps for Walking New York City

Texting and walking at the same time is wrong. Talking on the phone while strolling down the street is wrong. Leaving the sidewalk to stop and consult the information on a cellphone, preferably while alone, is OK. What's on Walking Off the Big Apple's iPhone: A List Walkmeter GPS Walking Stopwatch for Fitness and Weight Loss . While out walking, Walkmeter tracks routes, time, speed, and elevation. This is an excellent app for recording improvised or impromptu strolls, especially with many unplanned detours. The GPS function maps out the actual route. The app keeps a running tally of calories burned while walking, useful for weight loss goals. Another welcome feature is the ability to switch over to other modes of activity, including cycling. An indispensable app for city walkers. $4.99  New York City Compass , designed by Francesco Bertelli, is an elegant compass calibrated for Manhattan, with indications for Uptown, East Side, Downtown, and West Side. While facing a cert

Visiting New York on a Monday

Mondays are OK. Let's have a look at some of the museums open Mondays - • American Museum of Natural History • Jewish Museum • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) • National Museum of the American Indian • Neue Galerie • Guggenheim Museum • South Street Seaport Museum Any of these museums could be paired with a nearby restaurant or bar, making a complete full afternoon or day in New York. Monday is especially good for a museum visit, because the crowds tend to be thinner, and restaurants, too, tend to be less busy than on a weekend. A fun museum and bistro walk on the Upper West Side would be a combination of the American Museum of Natural History and the nearby Cafe Lalo on W. 83rd St. I also would suggest a pairing of the Neue Galerie with a nearby cafe, but the two cafes inside the musuem are so good, why go anywhere else? Image above: The Guggenheim on left and Beaux-Arts townhouse on right. View from E. 88th St. by Walking Off the Big Apple.