Text by Constant

Lecture by Constant from the lectures series Architektuur Commentaar (Architecture Criticism) organised by Professor ir. J.H. van den Broek at the TH Delft, The Netherlands. Printed in Delftse School 3, March 1961. Current society presented me with the choice between solitary confinement in an ivory tower or commercial slavery, I chose to revolt. I went into hiding in New-Babylon. And from my hiding place I organise a guerilla against the existing culture, or whatever is left of that. Constant in his lecture at TH Delft, February 1961. 

New Babylon: das experimentelle Denk-und Spielmodell (New Babylon: The Experimental Think and Play Model) in cat. of the exhibition Constant Amsterdam, Bochum, Städtische Kunst­galerie, 1961, p. 3-5.

Text for Onafhankelijk blad van de bouwkundige studenten aan de TH Delft, no. 3, pp. 1-13

Unpublished manuscript of a lecture at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1960. Translated to English and published as Unitary Urbanism in 1998 in Mark Wigley's Constant's New Babylon, The Hyperarchitecture of Desire, p. 131-135.

Originally written in German Der Weg zum unitären Urbanismus (The Path to Unitary Urbanism) is the only known text by Constant that establishes a link to the Situationist International. Constant was associated with this movement from 1958 to 1960.

Description de la zone jaune (Description of the Yellow Zone) in Internationale Situationniste, nº 4, June 1960, p. 23-26. Republished in Internationale Situationniste 1958-1969, Amsterdam, van Gennep, 1970 and in Internationale Situationniste 1958-69, Paris, Éditions Champ Libre, 1975.

Première proclamation de la section Hollandaise de I.S. (First proclamation of the Dutch Section of the SI) in Internationale Situationniste, nº 3, December 1959, p. 29-31. Republished in Internationale Situationniste 1958-1969, Amsterdam, van Gennep, 1970 and in Internationale Situationniste 1958-69, Paris, Éditions Champ Libre, 1975.

Integratie...Van wat? (Integration...of What?) in Forum XIV, nº 6, August 1959, p. 184.

Le grand jeu à venir (The Great Game to Come) in Potlatch, nº 30, 15 July 1959, p. 3-5. Republished in Docu­ments relatifs à la fondation de l’Internationale Situationniste 1948-1957, Paris, Allia, 1985, p. 255-257.Published in English in 1998 in Mark Wigley's Constant's New Babylon, The Hyperarchitecture of Desire, p. 111.

Rapport inaugural de la conférence de Munich (Inaugural Report to the Munich Conference) in Internatio­na­le Situationniste, nº 3, December 1959, p. 25-29. Republished in Internationale Situationniste 1958-1969, Amsterdam, van Gennep, 1970 and in Internationale Situationniste 1958-69, Paris, Éditions Champ Libre, 1975.Published in English in 1998 in Mark Wigley's New Babylon, The Hyperarchitecture of Desire, p. 101.

Uittreksels van brieven van Constant aan de Internationale Situationniste in de maand september 1958 (Summaries of letters from Constant to the Situationist International in the month September 1958), Paris, Bibliothèque d’Alexandrie, 1959, in cat. of the exhibition Constant: expositie van constructies en maquettes, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, June 1959.

Une autre ville pour une autre vie (Another City for Another Life) in Internationale Situationniste, nº 3, December 1959 p. 37-41. Republished in Internationale Situationniste 1958-1969, Amsterdam, van Gennep, 1970 and in internationale situationniste 1958-69, Paris, Éditions Champ Libre, 1975.

Z.T. in Forum XIV, nº 6, August 1959, p. 177.

La déclaration d’Amsterdam (The Amsterdam Declaration) in Internationale Situationniste, nº 2, décembre 1958, p. 31-32. Republished in Internationale Situationniste 1958-1969, Amsterdam, van Gennep, 1970 and in Internationale Situationniste 1958-69, Paris, Éditions Champ Libre, 1975. 

This is the most far-reaching of Constant’s writings about urban design as an art form.

Sur nos moyens et nos perspectives (On Our Means and Perspectives) in Internationale Situationniste, nº 2, December 1958, p. 23-27. Republished in Internationale Situationniste 1958-1969, Amsterdam, van Gennep, 1970 and in Internationale Situationniste 1958-69, Paris, Éditions Champ Libre, 1975.

In this text Constant reflects on the current state of the arts.

De eerste tekenen (The first signs) for “Phasen” exhibition, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, in Liga Bulletin, June 1957.Phasen was a group exhibition with Shinkichi Tajiri and Anton Rooskens curated by Willem Sandberg.

Demain la poésie logera la vie (Tomorrow Life Resides in Poetry), lecture dated Paris, 19 August 1956, written as a lecture to be given at the Primo congresso mondiale degli artisti liberi (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.Dutch title: In poezië zullen wij huizen. The typed manuscript is in the Constant archive at the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD). 

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.