| Description | John McCready's Situationist International collection consists of reference material, leaflets, posters, and other ephemera and records related to the Situationist International organisation and movement, focusing particularly on its influence in the UK as part of John McCready's research. The collection includes both rare and unique published material, in addition to original records. This collection also contains copies of the Internationale Situationiste, the French-language journal of the Situationist International, which ran from 1958-1969.
Of particular note are: a number of books by Guy Debord and Asger Jom; a French board game called Mai '68 Le jeu which is a cat and mouse style game set in Paris involving one team of students and one team of police; a small selection of clothes by Vivienne Westword and Malcolm McLaren, such as the famous Two Cowboys pillowcase t shirt; and a Sex Pistols school lunchbox. |
| AdminHistory | The Situationist International were a notorious avant garde group of European cultural and political dissidents who emerged in July 1957. The Situationist International had an intense desire to transform art and everyday life through the breakdown of traditional divisions between artists and consumers and the total integration on cultural production. In 1967, leading figure Guy Debord declared war on the emerging consumer society, labelling it the Society of the Spectacle in his iconic book of the same title. The Situationist International devised a variety of new techniques and activities – including détournement, psychogeography and the derive – which attempted to provoke individuals into actively engaging with both their own bodies and the environment around them by finding new ways of exploring the city. These experiments in behaviour advocated the construction of new situations and moments in time, free from the increasing passiveness of Western capitalism. From 1962 the Situationist International began to place more emphasis on their political ideology and Situationist ideas would go on to play an important role in the revolutionary Paris events of 1968. The Situationist International was dissolved in 1972, but its influence on contemporary culture remains significant.
John McCready has written about popular music and popular culture since 1985. Formerly a postman, milkman, musician, Haçienda DJ and TV producer, McCready continues to drift as a recuperative agent and spectacular collaborator. He is a key commentator on The Haçienda, Factory Records and Acid House and has written for the NME, The Face, Radio Times, Mojo and The Word magazine. |
| CustodialHistory | This collection was mostly curated by John McCready as part of his research into the Situationist International with a view for producing an exhibition on the group's influence, especially in the UK. This exhibition came to fruition in 2018, after it had been deposited with LJMU Special Collections & Archives in 2009, and was entitled 'Believe in The Ruins.' The run of International Situationiste journals was purchased separately in 2010. |