O estilo da negação: o papel do desvio e da vanguarda na superação da arte proposta por Guy Debord

Abstract

This work aims to investigate the contribution of modern art, along with the experience of avant-garde movements at the turn of the 20th century, to the political theory of the French strategist Guy Debord. We start from the hypothesis that to understand the critique of late capitalism expressed by the author in his concept of "spectacle", as presented in his most influential book, The Society of the Spectacle (1967), it is imperative to understand his critique of culture, which was one of his main focuses during his years at the head of Situationist International (SI). Considering this, we analyze Guy Debord's passage through Letrism and Lettrist International to demonstrate the background of the discussions that gave rise to the notions of dérive, psychogeography, détournement, and construction of situations—essential for the creation of SI. From this, we examine the criticism of culture in the second half of the 20th century, set out in the founding document of Situationist International, Report on the Construction of Situations (1957), to understand how the experiences of Surrealism and Dadaism, as well as the stage of man's technical development over nature and the movement towards the destruction of artistic forms, were essential to the notion of “transcendence of art” defended by Debord and his companions. Finally, we demonstrate how the analysis of the avant-garde as a form of artistic and political organization, as well as the use of détournement as a method of action that goes beyond its application as an artistic tool, enables the resumption of the revolutionary claims present in the avant-garde practice at the turn of the 20th century, thus developing a way of putting back into action a demand for the direct use of life, already enunciated by the historical avantgarde.