When the Situationist International was first formed, it had a predominantly artistic focus; emphasis was placed on concepts like unitary urbanism and psychogeography. Gradually, however, that focus shifted more towards revolutionary and political theory.
Etymology
The term "situationist" refers to the construction of situations, one of the early central concepts of the Situationist International; the term also refers to any individuals engaged in the construction of situations, or, more narrowly, to members of the Situationist International. The situation was seen as a tool for the liberation of everyday life, a method of negating the pervasive alienation that accompanied the spectacle. The construction of situations was defined in the 1957 founding manifesto of the Situationist International,Report on the Construction of Situations, as "the concrete construction of momentary ambiances of life and their transformation into a superior passional quality." Elsewhere, the situation was defined as "a moment of life concretely and deliberately constructed by the collective organization of a unitary ambiance and a game of events." The situationists argued that advanced capitalism manufactured false desires; literally in the sense of ubiquitous advertising and the glorification of accumulated capital, and more broadly in the abstraction and reification of the more ephemeral experiences of authentic life into commodities. The experimental direction of situationist activity consisted of setting up temporary environments favorable to the fulfillment of true and authentic human desires in response.
The Situationist International strongly resisted use of the term "situationism," which Debord called a "meaningless term," adding "[t]here is no such thing as situationism, which would mean a doctrine for interpreting existing conditions."The situationists maintained a philosophical opposition to all ideologies, conceiving of them as abstractsuperstructures ultimately serving only to justify the economic base of a given society; accordingly, they rejected "situationism" as an absurd and self-contradictory concept.[6] InThe Society of the Spectacle, Debord asserted ideology was "the abstract will to universality and the illusion thereof" which was "legitimated in modern society by universal abstraction and by the effective dictatorship of illusion. "However, despite their insistence on this point, the term "situationism" is still occasionally used in reference to the Situationist International.
in:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situationist_International
