S.I.

Through reading the chapter in Art and Revolution, ‘Distruptive Monsters: From Representing to Constructing Situations’, I have been able to gain a better understanding of the Situationist International and found it extremely interesting. It was particularly interesting to me for my own research as last semester while I was on exchange I took a course about ‘Art and the City’ and I started to research the Situationist International as it related to ideas of site-specificity and works I was creating. This text however gave me more in depth knowledge about the ‘constructed situation’ and the shift into the everyday space of the city.

Through looking at the term ‘psychogeography’ I was pleased to see that this notion related so exactly to the concepts and works I was creating last semester about the ever day environment of the urban landscape and the effects these have on the passersby and the behaviour of individuals. I like the idea of subtle interventions in public space which effect the passersby subconsciously or cause the passersby to become aware of the surrounding space. I can see how this relates to the derive and the influences on the individual caused by movement through space.

It is also interesting how the author Raunig refers to the fact that although there are extensive writings and texts such as in the Situationist International Bulletin, there are few examples of how these constructed situations or the ideas were actually carried out. The text does however go in to the political and revolutionary aspects which developed from these ideas . I think I will read up a lot more as I feel I still have much more to understand and I found this subject very engaging.