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Overview"From 1957 to 1972 the artistic and political movement known as the Situationist International (SI) worked aggressively to subvert the conservative ideology of the Western world. The movement's broadside attack on ""establishment"" institutions and values left its mark upon the libertarian left, the counterculture, the revolutionary events of 1968, and more recent phenomena from punk to postmodernism. But over time it tended to obscure Situationism's own founding principles. In this book, Simon Sadler investigates the artistic, architectural, and cultural theories that were once the foundations of Situationist thought, particularly as they applied to the form of the modern city. According to the Situationists, the benign professionalism of architecture and design had led to a sterilization of the world that threatened to wipe out any sense of spontaneity or playfulness. The Situationists hankered after the ""pioneer spirit"" of the modernist period, when new ideas, such as those of Marx, Freud, and Nietzsche, still felt fresh and vital. By the late fifties, movements such as British and American Pop Art and French Nouveau Realisme had become interested in everyday life, space, and mass culture. The SI aimed to convert this interest into a revolution - at the level of the city itself. Their principle for the reorganization of cities was simple and seductive: let the citizens themselves decide what spaces and architecture they want to live in and how they wish to live in them. This would instantly undermine the powers of state, bureaucracy, capital, and imperialism, thereby revolutionizing people's everyday lives. Simon Sadler searches for the Situationist City among the detritus of tracts, manifestos, and works of art that the SI left behind. The book is divided into three parts. The first, ""The Naked City,"" outlines the Situationist critique of the urban environment as it then existed. The second, ""Formulary for a New Urbanism,"" examines Situationist principles for the city and for city living. The third, ""A New Babylon,"" describes actual designs proposed for a Situationist City." Full Product DetailsAuthor: Simon SadlerPublisher: MIT Press Ltd Imprint: MIT Press Dimensions: Width: 21.10cm , Height: 1.20cm , Length: 23.10cm Weight: 0.885kg ISBN: 9780262193924ISBN 10: 0262193922 Pages: 248 Publication Date: 20 February 1998 Recommended Age: From 18 Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate , Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Out of Stock Indefinitely Availability: Out of stock  Table of ContentsPart 1 Introduction: more about less; the poverty of modernism; the organization of this book. Part 2 The naked city - realities of design and space laid bare: nurturing the real life of the city; beyond the rational city; from plenty to excess ; carving out the spaces of culture and politics; urbanism and power; defending urban mix. Part 3 Formulary for a new urbanism - rethinking the city: from the rational to the sublime; making sense of psychogeography; a passion for maps; drifting as a revolution of everyday life; language, time and the city. Part 4 A new Babylon: constructing situations; a detourned city; a technological baroque; unitary urbanism; Constant's New Babylon; the structure of New Babylon; New Babylon's utopian fun; disorientation; a cybernetic architecture; the debate over technocracy.ReviewsIt is a pleasure to see a work that situates theSituationists. Sadler has performed a necessary and welcome correctiveto our understanding of this strange but endearing crew. Adam Sweeting, American Book Review Imaginative, scrupulous, well-illustrated and very timely. Dr. Sarah Wilson , Courtauld Institute of Art This concise and clearly written work shines light on... thisintriguing and increasingly influential 'hidden' avant-garde. John Held, Jr. San Francisco Bay Guardian Imaginative, scrupulous, well-illustrated and very timely. --Dr. Sarah Wilson, Courtauld Institute of Art Author InformationSimon Sadler is Associate Professor of Architectural and Urban History at the University of California, Davis. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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