Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #346455 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 174 pages

Synopsis
This book is the first to present in a single volume, a complete guide to one of the most notorious and radical art movements of the twentieth century, the Situationist International (SI). Comprising a comprehensive history that includes an examination of the SI's far-reaching ideas about our 'society of the spectacle', this book also provides an insight into the Situationist legacy together with extensive visual material. Tracing its development back to the European avant-garde and groups such as COBRA, the Lettrists and the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus, Ford provides a comprehensive historical background to the 1957 foundation of the Situationist International under its self-proclaimed leader, the brilliant Guy Debord. Looking at painting, architecture and cinema, Ford includes detailed profiles of the main members such as the Asger Jorn, Constant, Pinot-Gallizio and Ralph Rumney. The final chapter looks at how the SI's legacy, following its disintegration in 1972, can be traced within subsequent artistic and activist movements, from punk through to culture jamming and media activism.

Customer Reviews

Good attempt by author, but poor reflection on publishers.
Though this book is a decent stab at providing an introduction to a difficult subject - the situationist international - it still fails in my opinion to really crystallize exactly what the situationist international was all about. It's biggest problem, however, and a criticism levelled at the publishers not the author, is a seeming disregard for the profession of copyediting and proofreading. I have never seen so many punctuation errors and typos in a published book before (there was a glaring punctuation error in the first paragraph!). Personally, the feeling that I had been ripped off (the publishers charge full price for the book but obviously neglected quality control to knock it out at a big profit) really affected my ability to enjoy this book. I work in the publishing sector and I am therefore more likely to spot mistakes than the average reader, but, nonetheless, the publishers need to value their readers more and I won't be buying anything else from Black Dog publishing on the strength of this.