SHAKE IN YOUR SHOES BUREAUCRATS STOP THE INTERNATIONAL POWER OF THE WORKERS COUNCILS WILL SOON WIPE YOU OUT STOP HUMANITY WON’T BE HAPPY TILL THE LAST BUREAUCRAT IS HUNG WITH THE GUTS OF THE LAST CAPITALIST STOP LONG LIVE FACTORY OCCUPATIONS STOP LONG LIVE THE GREAT CHINESE PROLETARIAN REVOLUTION OF 1927 BETRAYED BY THE STALINIST BUREAUCRATS STOP LONG LIVE THE PROLETARIANS OF CANTON AND ELSEWHERE WHO HAVE TAKEN UP ARMS AGAINST THE SO-CALLED PEOPLE’S ARMY STOP LONG LIVE THE CHINESE WORKERS AND STUDENTS WHO HAVE ATTACKED THE SO-CALLED CULTURAL REVOLUTION AND THE MAOIST BUREAUCRATIC ORDER STOP LONG LIVE REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM STOP DOWN WITH THE STATE
Thus, what is referred to as a "liberation from work," namely the modern increase in leisure time, is neither a liberation of work itself nor a liberation from the world shaped by this kind of work. None of the activity stolen by work can be regained by submitting to what that work has produced.
Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle (1967) trans. Ken Knabb
Now I'm going to raise a little bit of hate by posting this on a Friday night; but I'm really piling up a lot of things, and I have to post a link to this book on my blog so I don't lose it. Has anyone ever told you about Gui Debord and/or Situationism? I'll get to it, tell you what little I know and why it's interesting to me for the blog…
Ahora criaré un poco de odio publicando esto en viernes noche; pero es que de verdad se me acumulan las cosas y tengo que colgar en mi blog enlace a este libro para que no se me pierda. ¿Les ha hablado alguien alguna vez de Guy Debord y/o el Situacionismo? Voy a ello, les cuento lo poco que me se yo y por qué me interesa para el blog….
The Situationists were an informal group of artists gathered around Debord (informal in formation, not in neglecting aims and principles, as I've read disgruntled people complaining about Guy interfering in everything) who were adorable left-wing dipsomaniacs who left us a few conceptual marvels. The one that will interest you most is how, in the middle of the last century, they defended taking works, logos, symbols, and so on, and redefining them in their intended use, often in a burlesque manner and often in a political sense. The memes you've probably seen on their social media today are heirs to this art-activism they invented.
Los situacionistas eran informal grupo de artistas reunidos en torno a Debord (informal en formación, no en descuidar fines y principios, que he leído a despechados quejándose de Guy metiéndose en todo) que eran adorables dipsómanos de izquierdas que nos dejaron unas cuantas maravillas conceptuales. La que más os interesará es como defienden a mediados del siglo pasado el tomar obras, logos, símbolos… y resignificarlos en el uso dado, muchas veces de forma burlescas y otras tantas en sentido político. Los memes que habrán visto hoy mismo en sus redes son herederos de este arte-activismo que inventaron.
And what interests me? Well, the Situationists' politics lead them to judge how capitalism trades on spectacle (using the term as we now do with 'content') and everything in life experience becomes a spectacle to be traded, even though they weren't familiar with reality shows. Doesn't it sound similar to my theories in Pornoculture and what I wrote here recently regarding what I call Porneia?
¿Y qué me interesa a mi? Pues lo político de los Situacionistas les lleva a juzgar como el capitalismo comercia con el espectáculo (usando el término como nosotros ahora hacemos con 'contenido') y todo en la experiencia de la vida se convierte en espectáculo con el que comerciar aunque ellos no conocieron los reality shows ¿No les suena parecido a mis teorías en Pornocultura y lo que escribí aquí hace poco al respecto de lo que llamo Porneia?
Whether similar or not, if they weren't the pioneers of some of my theories, at least they'll clarify my ideas or give me some insight, I think. But I won't know until I begin to study their writings (there's no other word; it's reading, highlighting, meditating, annotating…). And although I have a printed version of the book in question… somewhere in the house, among some little pile of books (I already explained my order in another post); It's perfect for me to have it in PDF format so I can highlight like crazy with different colors and take screenshots without using my phone. You saw how I had that French anthropology book the other day…
Se parezca o no, si no fueron ellos los pioneros de algunas teorías mías, al menos me aclararán ideas o darán de las misma, estimo. Pero no lo sabré hasta que me ponga a estudiar sus escritos (no hay otra palabra, es leer, subrayas, meditar, anotar…). Y aunque tengo una versión impresa del libro que nos ocupa… en algún lugar de la casa ente alguna montañita de libros amontonados (ya expliqué de mi orden en otro post); me viene perfecto tenerlo en PDF para subrayar con colores distintos como una loca y hacer capturas sin usar el móvil. Ya visteis otro día como tenía aquel libro francés de antropología..
I digress. I wish I could tell you more, but I'm the first one who has to read THIS book, generously provided by @spaceintruderdetector on SPANISH on their blog. (HERE ENGLISH versión) I'm an ignorant, unapologetic person who tells you I read and when I don't know something, I make my blog not a pulpit for definitive statements, but a place for debate, or at least a journal of how I'm learning and building my theories. Thanks for the book!
Divago. Me gustaría poder comentaros más, pero soy la primera que tiene que leerse ESTE libro que nos facilita generosamente @spaceintruderdetector en su blog AQUÍ. Soy una ignorante, sin complejos que os digo que leo y cuando no se de algo, pero hago de mi blog no un púlpito para decir nada en firme, sino un lugar de debate o al menos diario de cómo voy aprendiendo y construyendo mis teorías. Gracias por el libro!
Read On the poverty of student life, which you mentioned. Towards the end, it talks of the criticism of the "spectacle" as being equivalent to the criticism of religion of the 19th century, and I gather its related to commodity fetishism, but that's about it. What do they mean by spectacle here, exactly?
I’ll post some of the passages from Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle (1967) with the important parts for defining spectacle and spectacular power highlighted. When the Situationists talked about this they were referring to the effect on our lived experience made by the organization of society according to the alienated needs of capital and the technocratic management of life as something planned and directed by someone else rather than ourselves.
“1. In societies dominated by modern conditions of production, life is presented as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has receded into a representation.”
“2. The images detached from every aspect of life merge into a common stream in which the unity of that life can no longer be recovered. Fragmented views of reality regroup themselves into a new unity as a separate pseudoworld that can only be looked at. The specialization of images of the world evolves into a world of autonomized images where even the deceivers are deceived. The spectacle is a concrete inversion of life, an autonomous movement of the nonliving.”
“3. The spectacle presents itself simultaneously as society itself, as a part of society, and as a means of unification. As a part of society, it is the focal point of all vision and all consciousness. But due to the very fact that this sector is separate, it is in reality the domain of delusion and false consciousness: the unification it achieves is nothing but an official language of universal separation.”
“4. The spectacle is not a collection of images; it is a social relation between people that is mediated by images.”
“5. The spectacle cannot be understood as a mere visual excess produced by mass-media technologies. It is a worldview that has actually been materialized, a view of a world that has become objective.”
“6. Understood in its totality, the spectacle is both the result and the project of the dominant mode of production. It is not a mere decoration added to the real world. It is the very heart of this real society’s unreality. In all of its particular manifestations—news, propaganda, advertising, entertainment—the spectacle represents the dominant model of life. It is the omnipresent affirmation of the choices that have already been made in the sphere of production and in the consumption implied by that production. In both form and content the spectacle serves as a total justification of the conditions and goals of the existing system. The spectacle also represents the constant presence of this justification since it monopolizes the majority of the time spent outside the production process.”
“7. Separation is itself an integral part of the unity of this world, of a global social practice split into reality and image. The social practice confronted by an autonomous spectacle is at the same time the real totality which contains that spectacle. But the split within this totality mutilates it to the point that the spectacle seems to be its goal. The language of the spectacle consists of signs of the dominant system of production—signs which are at the same time the ultimate end-products of that system.”
La verdad es que no me puedo quejar. @spaceintruderdetector comparte más material de utilidad para comprender el situacionismo y en español, así que me hago inmediatamente eco y recomiendo su blog como siempre.
El primero, a la derecha, es una edición a modo de fanzine de los viejos materiales de revista la Internacional Situacionista, que venía a ser los grupos (¿comandos artísticos?) que se unieron al movimiento de Debord. Anteriormente habían pasado por el blog de SpaceIntruder, pero eso eran los originales y yo no domino ni francés ni alemán que hacía falta. AQUÍ ENLACE.
El segundo es posterior y libro copyfree para entender la historia del activismo artístico y político que fue aquello, lo que me viene genial para orientarme, que Debord leído directamente es bello pero me cuesta seguir a lo que se refiere. AQUÍ ENLACE.
A disfrutar! y las gracias al blog que siempre os recomiendo!
