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.
