Potlatch: The Lettrist International's Cultural Revolution
Between 1954 and 1957, the journal Potlatch, the bulletin of the Lettrist International, grew from a print run of 50 to 500 copies. Its provocative content—insults, verbal violence, intellectual terrorism, and exclusions—shocked the culturally dominant petite bourgeoisie. The journal prefigured the Situationist International's key themes: behavioral studies, leisure, play, architecture, urbanism, and culture as a motor for political and social subversion. Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle was already fully present in its pages. Without Potlatch, May 1968 would not have been the same.
Key facts
- Potlatch was the bulletin of the Lettrist International.
- Its print run increased from 50 to 500 copies between 1954 and 1957.
- The journal featured provocations, verbal violence, insults, and intellectual terrorism.
- It contained themes later central to the Situationists: behavior, leisure, play, architecture, urbanism.
- Guy Debord's The Society of the Spectacle was already fully present in Potlatch.
- The journal is credited with influencing May 1968.
- It was received as a provocation by culturally powerful petite bourgeoisie.
Entities
Artists
- Guy Debord
Institutions
- Internationale lettriste
- Potlatch
Sources
- artpress —