culture
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
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.
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THE OCCUPATION
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.
