Abstract

The International Situationist International: Revisiting the German Section

The Situationist International (SI) was an international avant-garde group active in the 1950's and 1960's. Primarily based in Paris, the group claimed to have several sections spread throughout Europe, and sometimes the globe.

But how international was indeed the Situationist International? Most of the studies on the group focus either on the central actions in Paris, overlooking the role played by other sections or, conversely, address sections mainly from a regional perspective. In this talk I will present my current research project, co-funded by CAPES and Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung, which consists of a study of the German Section of the SI.

Such research is part of a larger effort to re-understand the history of the Situationist International in a transnational perspective, that could provide a new understanding of the group’s history and situate it in the broader context of postwar avant-garde.