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Our art archive contains texts and content related to culture, art, music, literature, film and more.

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General Problems of Culture
:> Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture – Nelson/Grossberg, Eds.
:> Recapturing Marxism – Levine/Lembcke, Eds.

Literature and Art
:> The Dada Painters and Poets – Motherwell, Ed.
:> The Dada Almanac – Huelsenbeck, Ed.
:> The Situationist International Anthology – Knabb, Ed.

On the poverty of Berkeley life and the marginal stratum of American society in general - Chris Shutes, 1983

A situationist-influenced text from 1983, containing critiques of Berkeley radicalism, the marginal worker, 'natural' commodities (e.g. crafts, food, medicine), the car, jogging, bureaucratic reform, Reaganism, the Black Panthers, criminality, culture/aesthetics, feminism, therapy, Robert Crumb, global class struggle in the 1970s and 80s and South Africa in particular - plus more.

ON THE POVERTY OF BERKELEY LIFE
and the Marginal Stratum of American Society in General

Chris Shutes
- May 1983, Berkeley, CA, USA. No copyright.

1

Berkeley isn't ripe; it's rotten

Over the Rainbow Coalition - Slavoj Žižek

Philosopher/psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek reveals the intolerant kernel of liberal multiculturalism - tolerant of all except antagonism, that is the class antagonism that is the basis of capitalist society.

The credentials of those who, even prior to its release, virulently criticize Mel Gibson's Passion seem impeccable: are they not fully justified in their worry that the film, made by a fanatic Catholic traditionalist with occasional anti-Semitic outbursts, may ignite anti-Semitic sentiments?

Jack Common - selected articles

A selection of articles by the undeservably obscure Jack Common, a Geordie who wrote both novels and essays on various aspects of culture and class relations. His friend George Orwell had written of Common: "he is of proletarian origin, and much more than most writers of this kind he preserves his proletarian viewpoint".

A fascinating writer, his analysis of the emerging mass consumerism of the 1930s & 40s seems to closely anticipate the concept of the 'society of the spectacle' later developed by the situationists.

From the endangered phoenix.com website; http://www.endangeredphoenix.com/

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A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

TV Times 30 September - 6 October

Class War's weekly TV guide for the revolutionary couch potato. Two major documentaries from the Dispatches team this week - on data theft and Myanmar, plus a side to Iran that is little known. Science fiction fans can enjoy the TV version of Logan's Run - unless you are over 30 of course!

Sat 30 Sep 9.10pm - HG Wells: A Life In Pictures. Dramatisation of the life of the socialist writer and father of science fiction.

Mon 2 Oct 8pm Ch4 - Dispatches: Burma's Secret War. Evan Williams, who is banned from Myanmar, enters the country undercover to investigate claims of ethnic cleansing and forced labour.

The depraved heroes of 24 are the Himmlers of Hollywood - Slavoj Žižek

Jack Bauer: not only tortures others but condones his superiors putting his own life at stake

In this short article Žižek shows how the popular TV series is essentially a reflection of newly acceptable fascistic behaviour - torture, expendability of subordinates - in the 'war on terror', concluding that "24's real problem [is] not the content itself but the fact that we are being told openly about it."

On Sunday, the fifth season of the phenomenally successful television drama 24 will start in the US. Each season is composed of 24 one-hour episodes and the whole season covers the events of a single day.

1919-1950: The politics of Surrealism

A history of Surrealism and its links with politics and, in particular, anarchism and socialism.

Welcome to the desert of the Real - Slavoj Žižek

The philosopher-psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek’s take on the aftermath of the September 11<sup>th</sup> attacks, including his trademark references to popular culture to explain his Lacanian psychoanalysis. He presents a choice: “there are two fundamental ways to react to such traumatic events which cause unbearable anxiety: the way of superego and the way of the act”, and it is in ‘the act’ in which he sees the possibility to escape “the reassertion of the barbaric violence” (note: this is not the longer book of the same name).

[i]America's "holiday from history" was a fake: America's peace was bought by the catastrophes going on elsewhere.

1789-1989: Revolutionary song in France

A history of song, music and revolutionary working class politics in France from the 1789 Revolution up to the 1980s and punk.

Like other political groups, anarchists have seen music as an excellent means of agitation and of popular education, and have made it one of their key activities of propaganda in many countries.

1700: The Jolly Roger

Fearsome: the skull and crossbones emblem of the pirates

Information and explanations of the likely origins of the pirate flag, the Jolly Roger.

There have been a number of different explanations of the origin of the most famous of the pirates’ flags: the ‘skull and cross bones’, which was first used around the year 1700.

1600-today: Radical puppetry

A short history of puppets, puppeteers and working class politics from the English Civil War to the streets of Seattle in 1999.

The ‘carnivalesgue’ has often been a feature of popular rebellion. Recently we saw its self-conscious re-emergence in the US and the UK (notably on Reclaim the Streets actions). Masks, fancy dress and puppets perform a dual role, providing both a pleasurable escape from the routines of everyday life and means of disguise.

Heatwave Magazine - UK, 1960s

Texts about and from 1966 British magazine Heatwave, which was linked to American Surrealists and radical unionists.

We group together here 2 texts about the UK Heatwave magazine, which existed for 2 issues in 1966 - and the wider political scene it was a part of, which included its links with the US Industrial Workers of the World and American Surrealists. There then follows a text from issue 1 of Heatwave.

The Revolution of Modern Art and the Modern Art of Revolution (Clark, Gray, Nicholson-Smith, Radcliffe & others, 1967)

A situationist-influenced critique of modern art by some UK radicals in the days of 1967 when, for many, revolution seemed to be getting close. Despite the occasional silly over-estimation of delinquency and shop-lifting, still a fine critique of its time of art and its limits.

Reservoir of poses

The following article first appeared in the late 1980's in an obscure, apparently one-off, magazine called Hopeless Tasks which emerged from Seattle, USA. It's a neatly stated situationist-influenced critique of pop culture recuperation, bands as entertainment commodities and the weaknesses of punk 'radicality'.

The Occupation of Art and Gentrification

How an artistic presence was used to aid the gentrification of 1980s New York City.

An article from "No Reservations - Housing, Space and Class Struggle"; News From Everywhere and Campaign For Real Life, London, 1989.

From the endangeredphoenix.com website

Culture in Danger? If only...

The following text is an English version of a text written in France following the strikes and actions of 'Les
intermittents du spectacle' (casualised workers in the culture industry) in June and July 2003.

The Arts, and Other Social Diseases

A wittily written rant against art students and artists. "Students of the arts ... are the only masturbators to act as carriers of social disease"

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THE ARTS, AND OTHER SOCIAL DISEASES

Rex King

The author would like to thank the Institute of Comparative Boredom for hot meals and counselling.

First published by Pentagon, 1992.

Princess Diana Spencer obituary

Most socialist and anarchist comment has missed the most relevant point about the life and death of Diana, even in Freedom (20th September 1997). This is that Diana was the most spectacular example of the 'spectacular society' since the concept was launched.

Anarchy in Milton Keynes

Colin Ward examines interlocking musical communities in Milton Keynes, as described by anthropologist Ruth Finnegan's book The Hidden Musicians: music-making in an English town. In these cultural networks Ward sees evidence of anarchist tendencies and strains in society

After You've Gone... (Humanist funerals)

AFTER YOU'VE GONE....

Sadly, we have reflected a lot about funerals recently. How his funeral was conducted was important to Albert Meltzer, not least because he had seen so many old comrades and friends receive totally inappropriate send offs. Our secular correspondent (see note below) takes up this theme in the article below.

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