London Psychogeographical Association
Encyclopedia
Psychogeography
Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals." Another definition is "a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for...
. The LPA is perhaps best understood in the context of psychogeographical praxis.
London Psychogeographical Institute
The LPA was first mentioned in 1957 by the British artist Ralph RumneyRalph Rumney
Ralph Rumney was an English artist, born in Newcastle Upon Tyne.In 1957 lifelong conscientious objector Rumney was one of the co-founders of the London Psychogeographical Association. This organization was, along with COBRA and the Lettrist International, involved in the formation of the...
, as one of the organisers of the "First Exhibition of Psychogeography" in Brussels, which included his work. According to many accounts the group (which was also referred to as the London Psychogeographical Institute or Society) eventually merged into the Situationist International.
LPA East London Section
In the 1990s, the LPA was reinvoked as the LPA East London Section by Fabian Tompsett, using the pseudonym Richard Essex, who published a series of newsletters and pamphlets under its name, as well as the writers grouped around the multiple user name Luther BlissettLuther Blissett (nom de plume)
Luther Blissett is a multiple-use name, an "open reputation" informally adopted and shared by hundreds of artists and activists all over Europe and the Americas since 1994...
, including Stewart Home
Stewart Home
Stewart Home is an English artist, filmmaker, writer, pamphleteer, art historian, and activist. He is best known for his novels such as the non-narrative 69 Things To Do With A Dead Princess , his re-imagining of the 1960s in Tainted Love , and earlier parodistic pulp fictions Pure Mania, Red...
. Activities of the ELS also included trips to destinations of psychogeographical interest and the organisation of Three sided football
Three sided football
Three-sided football is a variation of football with three teams instead of the usual two. It was devised by the Danish Situationist Asger Jorn to explain his notion of triolectics, his refinement on the Marxian concept of dialectics, as well as to disrupt one's everyday idea of football...
matches.
This version of the LPA has been described by the writer Iain Sinclair
Iain Sinclair
Iain Sinclair FRSL is a British writer and filmmaker. Much of his work is rooted in London, most recently within the influences of psychogeography.-Life and work:...
, whose work is often described as psychogeographical
Psychogeography
Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals." Another definition is "a whole toy box full of playful, inventive strategies for...
, as useful in "branding" that kind of practice.
In 1994 Barry Hugill wrote an article for The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
covering the LPA. He depicted their ideas as "so cranky that to mention Mr Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd CBE is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, Charles Dickens, T. S. Eliot and Sir Thomas More he won the Somerset Maugham Award...
's name in the same breath is to invite a writ." However he also states that "the psychogeographers fear that in 2000 there may be an attempt to perpetuate patriarchy
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
through the ritual murder of a top member of royalty."
The work of Luther Blissett, Stewart Home and other psychogeographical groups is said to involve the issuing of numerous leaflets and letters under a series of aliases, both personal and organisational, and the description of interactions, including collaborations and feuds, between both these and other, real people and groups (for example between Luther Blissett and the parapolitical researcher Larry O'Hara).
The last LPA Newsletter was issued around the year 2000.
External links
- http://www.maths.ex.ac.uk/~mwatkins/conjunction.htmThe Great Conjunction: The Symbols of a College, the Death of a King and the Maze on the Hill (Unpopular BooksUnpopular BooksUnpopular Books is a publisher in London's East End, producing leaflets, pamphlets and books.- Leaflets, pamphlets and booklets :* Jean Barrot - What is Communism * Jean Barrot - Fascism/Antifascism...
, 1992) - a booklet authored jointly by the LPA and the Archaeogeodetic Association]