Die Gesellschaft des Spektakels

Author's Text
Guy Debord, born in Paris in 1931, participated in the activities of the Lettrists in the 1950s, an artistic avant-garde known for its spectacular actions. In 1957, he was a founding member of the Situationist International, which included artist groups like Cobra and later the Munich group SPUR. Guy Debord was the theorist of the SI. On November 30, 1994, Debord ended his life with a shot to the heart.

Blurb
"In 1967, I demonstrated in a book, The Society of the Spectacle, what the modern spectacle essentially was: the self-mastery of commodities that had achieved a status of irresponsible sovereignty and the entirety of new techniques of governance that accompany this rule. Since the 1968 uprisings, which continued in various countries in the following years, have not succeeded anywhere in overthrowing the prevailing social order, the spectacle, which equally springs forth spontaneously from this, has further intensified everywhere. This means it has spread in all directions to the utmost limits while increasing its density at the center. It has even learned new defensive techniques, as is usually the case with attacked powers. (...) Yet the society of the spectacle has continued its march. It is advancing rapidly; for in 1967, it had barely more than about forty years behind it, which it fully utilized. Through its own movement, which no one bothers to study anymore, it has since demonstrated with astonishing achievements that its actual nature was the one I had outlined." Guy Debord.