Guy Debord and Asger Jorn were the key co-founders of the Situationist
International (1957). Despite significant differences in style and
personality, the two were close collaborators at that time and
remained
close personal friends until Jorn's death in 1973, long after Jorn had
left
the SI.

One of the first projects of the newly formed SI was the publication
of a
large French-language collection of Asger Jorn's texts from the
immediately
preceding period: "Pour la Forme: ébauche d'une méthodologie des arts"
(1958). This collection was reprinted by Éditions Allia and is still
in
print, but up till now very few of Jorn's writings have been available
in
English.

Now, at long last, there is a comprehensive English-language
collection of
Jorn's writings:

FRATERNITÉ AVANT TOUT:
ASGER JORN'S WRITINGS ON ART AND ARCHITECTURE, 1938-1958
Edited by Ruth Baumeister
Translated by Paul Larkin and Ken Knabb
Published by "010" (Rotterdam)
http://www.010.nl/catalogue/book.php?id=760

Most of this new collection consists of articles translated from the
Danish
and Swedish by Paul Larkin, but it also includes four articles from
"Pour la
Forme" translated from the French by Ken Knabb. Excerpts from these
latter
articles are online at
http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/asger-jorn/index.htm

Those excerpts provide just a little taste of the richness and
liveliness of
Jorn's ideas and explorations. I encourage you to get Baumeister's
book if
you are interested in further exploring this provocative yet genial
pioneer
of the interface between cultural and political radicalism.

__________________________________________________

BUREAU OF PUBLIC SECRETS
http://www.bopsecrets.org

"Making petrified conditions dance by singing them their own tune."