<p>Detail of Gele sector (1958), photographed by Bram Wisman in 1958.</p>
Documentation
Photo of detail of Yellow Sector by Bram Wisman II
<p>Detail of Gele Sector (1958), photographed by Bram Wisman. </p>
Photo of detail of Yellow Sector by Jan Versnel
<p>Detail of Gele sector (1958), photographed by Jan Versnel in 1958. </p>
Photo of Sector Construction by Bram Wisman
<p>Sector constructie (1958-1961), photographed by Bram Wisman in 1958.</p>
<p>For some models—including this one—the year of production is a period, either because it is an estimation or because adjustments were made to the model later on. </p>
<p> </p>
Sur nos moyens et nos perspectives
<p><em>Sur nos moyens et nos perspectives</em> (<em>On Our Means and Perspectives)</em> in <em>Internationale Situationniste, </em>nº 2, December 1958, p. 23-27. Republished in <em>Internationale Situationniste 1958-1969</em>, Amsterdam, van Gennep, 1970 and in <em>Internationale Situationniste 1958-69</em>, Paris, Éditions Champ Libre, 1975.</p>
Text for tape recording for Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
<p>In this text Constant reflects on the current state of the arts. He defines his own position in the art world and looks back at 15 years of artistic practice, in which the pursuit of ‘the experimental spirit’ that emerged after the Second World War has led him through a variety of domains. This experimental period is marked by a certain destructivism. He defines his activity as a ‘ceaseless building and tearing down again’. A quest for an unknown, an eternally variable form.
Constant with Eva and Martha on his knee 1957
<p>Photo of Constant with his daughters Eva and Martha at Artis, Amsterdam ca 1957.
De eerste tekenen
<p><em>De eerste tekenen (The first signs)</em> for “Phasen” exhibition, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, in <em>Liga Bulletin, </em>June 1957.<br>Phasen was a group exhibition with Shinkichi Tajiri and Anton Rooskens curated by Willem Sandberg.</p>
Congres du mouvement pour un Bauhau imaginistes, 1956
<p>Congres du mouvement pour un Bauhau imaginistes, Alba 1956. <br>F.l.t.r. Wolman, Jorn, Constant, E. Verone, Gallizio, Sotsass, Piero Simondo.</p>
Constant with his family in Milan, 1956
<p>Constant with his family in Milan, 1956. <br>F.l.t.r: Eva, Victor, Constant's second wife, Nellie Riemens, and Constant.</p><h2><strong>NB: Not available in high res!</strong></h2>
Demain la poésie logera la vie
<p><em>Demain la poésie logera la vie (Tomorrow Life Resides in Poetry)</em>, lecture dated Paris, 19 August 1956, written as a lecture to be given at the <em>Primo congresso mondiale degli artisti liberi</em> (First World Congress of Free Artists), organized by Asger Jorn and Pinot Gallizio for Mouvement Internationale pour un Bauhaus Imaginiste contre un Bauhaus Imaginaire (M.I.B.I.), held in Alba (I), 2-8 September 1956.<br>Dutch title: In poezië zullen wij huizen.
Disclosure of ‘Pivotting Construction', 1956
<p>Disclosure of ‘Pivotting Construction'(destroyed), made for the municipal housing company in Amsterdam, 1956</p>
Ettore Sottsas, Gil Wolman, Elena Verona, Asger Jorn and Constant, 1956
<p>Fltr: Ettore Sottsas, Gil Wolman, Elena Verona, Asger Jorn and Constant at restaurant Bruno during the congress <em>Mouvement pour un Bauhaus imaginiste</em> in Alba 1956.</p>
Gil Wolman, Asger Jorn, Constant, Bruno and Calonne in restaurant Bruno, 1956
<p>Alba, 1956</p>
Het technicisme
<p>This hitherto unpublished text by Constant probably dates from 1956. Thematically it has a strong affinity with ‘Tomorrow Life Will Reside in Poetry’ from the same year. Constant outlines the gap between the visual arts on the one hand and architecture and design on the other. He goes on to argue for a new kind of aesthetics – ‘technicism’. This must be founded on the structural qualities of the materials that technological progress has produced and which were already being used extensively in industry and construction at the time.
Photo of Space Circus [I] by Bram Wisman
<p>Ruimtecircus [I] (1956-1961), photographed by Bram Wisman in 1956. </p>
<p>For some models—including this one—the year of production is a period, either because it is an estimation or because adjustments were made to the model later on. </p>
Pinot Gallizio in Alba, 1956
<p><strong>NB: We do not have a version fit for print of this image</strong></p>
Pinot Gallizio with the gypsies in Alba, 1956
<p>Pinot Gallizio with the gypsies at their camp on the river banks of river Tanaro in Alba, 1956.</p><h2><strong>NB: Not available in high res!</strong></h2>
Ruimtecircus projected on Museumplein, 1961
<p>Photomontage by Jan Versnel, Amsterdam. Circa 1961. Constant's Ruimtecircus projected on Museumplein with the Rijksmuseum in the background, circa 1961</p>