# @beineckelibrary on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CwsV4SkOqDj
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/31770058-beineckelibrary-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/bae4d65c1e.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-09-02T14:30:09.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Beinecke Library (@beineckelibrary) — https://gondola.cc/beineckelibrary

## Caption

The complex role of Situationists in the Paris uprisings of 1968 is clearly illustrated in the sharp contrast between these two posters. The stark and austere one at right was designed by Debord and is notably devoid of images. Its focus is entirely on the text, Down with the Spectacular Society of Commodities, which resoundingly echoes Debord’s classic 1967 pièce de résistance, The Society of the Spectacle. It is also to be found on the Sorbonne Occupation Committee’s list of “slogans to be disseminated now by all means” (farther right).
Drenched in passion and color, the poster at left was painted by none other than Jacqueline de Jong, the rebellious editor of The Situationist Times, who had decisively taken sides with Gruppe Spur in the schism over the role of art and left the Situationist International in protest in 1962 (see south case). The poster is in fact
a détournement of the committee’s entire notion of prescribed slogans. A close look reveals that de Jong painted over most of the text, which was printed at the Atelier Populaire and then handed out to artists to “illustrate,” leaving visible only the words she wanted to disseminate. It is a brilliant act of defiance and, at the same time, a perfect deployment of the Situationist’s most powerful (and undeniably artistic) weapon. 
The posters of May ’68 assume many hues and tones, but the lion’s share come down squarely on de Jong’s side as far as respect for the power of art goes. Asger Jorn, one of the founders of the Situationist International, who also left in the early 1960s (and was Jacqueline’s lover for most of the decade), expressed it most delightfully on a May ’68 poster of his own: Break the Frame that Suffocates the Image.

This is part of our newest exhibition, Art, Protest, and the Archives, here at the Beinecke! Now open until January 7th, 2024! Link in bio!

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## Credits

| Name | Username | Profile | Role |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Beinecke Library | @beineckelibrary | https://gondola.cc/beineckelibrary | University |
| Shelagh Laverty | @Shelagh_Laverty | https://gondola.cc/Shelagh_Laverty | Creative Media Intern |

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