New Babylon: The Antinomies of Utopia

New Babylon: The Antinomies of Utopia
Author(s): Hilde Heynen
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Assemblage, No. 29 (Apr., 1996), pp. 24-39
Published by: The MIT Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3171393 .
Accessed: 19/01/2012 14:29
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
The MIT Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Assemblage.
http://www.jstor.org
1. New Babylon, group sector, 1962
Hilde
New
Heynen
Babylon:
Antinomies
HildeHeynenteachesarchitectural
theoryat the KatholiekeUniversiteitin
Leuven,Belgium.She is preparinga
bookentitledArchitecture
and the
fromwhichthis
Critiqueof Modernity
workis drawn.
Assemblage 29: 24-39 @ 1996 by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The
of
Utopia
New Babylon is the name of a long-termproject by the
Dutch artistConstant that originatedin Situationistexperiments. By the time that Constant embarkedon this project he
had alreadyacquired a certain reputationas a painter and
member of the COBRA group.' The event that markedthe
beginnings of New Babylon was the meeting of a group of
avant-gardeartistsin Alba, Italy, in 1956, where Constant
delivered a lecture entitled "TomorrowPoetryWill Be the
House of Life."The meeting in Alba was instrumentalin
setting up the SituationistInternational,which, from the
merger of several avant-gardegroups, principally,the International Movement for an ImaginistBauhaus and the Lettrist
International,was officially established in London in 1957.2
In the firstyears of its existence, most of the activities of the
new group were directed towarda programfor a "unitary
urbanism."This was a vigorous critique of contemporary
modernist urbanism. Unitaryurbanism rejected the utilitarian logic of the consumer society, aiming instead for the
realization of a dynamic city, a city in which freedom and
play would have a central role. Operating collectively, the
Situationistssought to achieve a creative interpretationof
their everydaysurroundingsand they organized "situations"
that would subvertthe normal state of affairs.
New Babyloncan be understoodas Constant'sconcretization
of the goals of unitaryurbanism.A vastseries of maps, models,
sketches, and paintingsgive shape to a utopian scheme for a
new mode of dwelling and a new mode of society. New
Babylonsimulatesa situationof total liberation - an abolition
25
AtF,
.
.
?
r'74
4'?
.
.
.
'
14
INI
.""i:
.-"
:
'
1
iw
4
"4"
It
??I?
./
assemblage 29
of all norms, conventions,traditions,and habits. Radicalizing and idealizing the transitoryaspectsof the experience
of modernity,New Babylonis a world in which all that is
fleeting and transienthas acquiredthe force of law. It is also
a world of collective creationand absolutetransparency;
everythingis exposed to the public gaze. In New Babylon
imaginationis in powerand homo ludens is sovereign.At the
same time, the projecttestifiesto the paradoxesand contradictions inherent to visions of this kind. In New Babylon,the
tragiccharacterof utopianismsurfacesas well.
UnitaryUrbanismas Critique
The key text to describe unitaryurbanismdates from 1953
and was firstpublished in June 1958, in the inauguralissue
of Internationalesituationniste,the periodical of the movement.3Written by Gilles Ivain (the pseudonym of Ivan
Chtcheglov), the essaywas originallyintended as an action
programfor the LettristInternationaland it became a
guideline for the SituationistInternationalin its earlyyears.
Condemning the utilitarianism,and consequent boredom,
prevalentin standardurbanism,Ivain devised strangeimages of urban scenes, magic sites where the imagination
would be stimulated.A new architectureis called forth, no
longer a cold and functional architecturebut an everchanging d6cor of adjustablewalls and flexible spaces:
The architecturalcomplexwill be modifiable.Itsaspectwill
changetotallyor partiallyin accordancewiththe will of its
inhabitants. The appearanceof the notionof relativityin the
...
modernmind allowsone to surmisethe EXPERIMENTAL
aspectof the nextcivilization.... On the basisof this mobile
civilization,architecturewill, at leastinitially,be a meansof
experimentingwitha thousandwaysof modifyinglife, witha
viewto a mythicsynthesis.'"4
According to the manifesto, in the cities of the future there
will be ongoing experimentsin new modes of behavior.
Architecturalforms will be charged with symbols and emotions. City quartersmight be built to harmonize with specific feelings: the BizarreQuarter,the Happy Quarter,the
Noble and the Tragic Quarter,and so forth.The inhabitants' most importantactivitywill be a constant loitering and
aimless movement.
In this respect,a significantpracticeof the Situationistswas
the derive,or aimless drifting.This technique of traversing
frequentlychanging urbanenvironmentswas convertedinto
an instrumentfor investigatingthe "psychogeography"
of cities. Psychogeography,statedGuy Debord, exploresthe influence of the geographicalenvironment,consciously organized
or not, on the emotions and behaviorof individuals.The term
suggeststhat one might make a relief map of a city indicating
the constantcurrents,fixed points, and vortexesby which
urban environmentsaffect the psychologicalstate of inhabitants and passers-by.Debord provideddetailed instructionsfor
carryingout a derivecorrectly:it should take a fixed amount of
time (preferablytwenty-fourhours) and involve a small group
of people whose path is determinedby a combination of system and randomness,conscious choice and chance. The aim
is to move throughthe city without purpose,thus provoking
unexpected occurrencesand encounters.5
In "The Declaration of Amsterdam,"a manifesto of 1958,
Constant and Debord described unitaryurbanismas "the
uninterruptedcomplex activitythrough which man's environment is consciously recreatedaccording to progressiveplans
in all domains."'6
Unitaryurbanism is the fruit of a collective
of
a
creativity
completely new kind. It cannot be produced by
the activityof individual artists;in fact, the individual practice
of any branch of art whatsoeveris obsolete and reactionary.
Rather,synthetic in character,unitaryurbanism calls for the
combined effortsof all creativepersonalities.This will bring
about a fusion of scientific and artisticactivity,in which the
creation of transitorysmall-scalesituations is accompanied by
the development, on a largerscale, of a universal,relatively
permanent ambiance markedby playfulnessand freedom.
With New BabylonConstantwas offeringa specific response
to the aims of this manifesto.But although the projectwas
conceived and initiated under the umbrellaof the Situationist
International- the firstarticlesdevoted to New Babylonwere
published in Intemationalesituationniste7- it was apparent
that Constantand Debord were moving in differentdirections.
Constant,for his part,consideredthe critique of the existing
urbanism - which he saw as the clearestmanifestationof the
deficient societal structure- to be the most urgenttaskof
artistsand intellectuals;and the constructionof a well-elabo-
26
Heynen
ratedalternativewas, for him, the most appropriatestrategy
for developing this critique.Thus he put all his energies into
devising New Babylonas a concrete model of how the world
would look afterunitaryurbanismwas realized. The group
around Debord, however,thought that Constantwas concerned too exclusivelywith what they called the "structural
problemsof urbanism."For them, urbanismwas but one of
the many fields in which to activatesubversiveimpulses,
and too narrowa focus on what were becoming technical
problemsremovedthe critical sting from the project. For
Debord, unitaryurbanismwas only a point of departure,a
potential catalystin the strugglefor a total social revolution,
which he believed was waiting just aroundthe corner.To
develop a critique on variousfronts,moreover,it was necessaryto involve not only artistsand intellectualsbut also
studentsand proletarians.New Babylon,conceived of and
elaboratedin artistictermsand media, was, for Debord and
his partisans,clearlylimited in scope. They even accused
Constant of functioning as a public-relationsofficer for capitalism, in that his projecttried to integratethe massesin a
totallytechnified environment.8
Increasingly,the Situationistsmoved awayfrom artistic
activities to elaboratetheir critique of urbanismthrough
writingsand political actions.9They saw it as their firsttask
to free people from their identification with their surroundings and with codes of behavior imposed by a capitalist
society. The existing practice of urban development, in
their view, organized life so as to discourage people from
thinking that they might have anything of their own to
contribute. Through an emphasis on transport,they argued,
contemporaryurbanism isolates people from one another,
keeping them from genuine participation.Instead,Attila
Kotinyi and Raoul Vaneigem would write in 1961, they are
offered the spectacle:
Thatparticipationhas become impossibleis compensatedby
wayof the spectacle.The spectacleis manifestin one'sresidence
and mobility(personalvehicles).For in factone doesn'tlive
somewherein the city;one livessomewherein the hierarchy.'0
As partof the spectacle, individualsbecome passive, alienated from their own existence. Unitary urbanismtherefore
involves a permanent critique of the manipulation exer-
cised by existing urbanstructures,a critique activatedby the
tensions and conflicts of everydaylife. The goal is to provide
the basis for a life of continuous experimentation.At the same
time, unitaryurbanismmust avoid the creation of certain
"experimentalzones" that would be isolated from the rest of
the world. For it has nothing to do with designing yet another
holiday resort.Justthe opposite: "Unitaryurbanism is the
contraryof specialized activity;to accept a separateurbanistic
domain is alreadyto accept the whole urbanisticlie and the
falsehood permeating the whole of life.""
In this regard,a fertilestrategyin the critiqueof urbanismwas
that of deliberatedistortion,the detoumement.This technique
presentspreexistingmaterialsor conditions in a light other than
officiallyintended, so as to expose their fraudulentcharacter.
Accordingto Kotinyi and Vaneigem, it is possibleto subject
the lies in urbanisttheoryto a ditoumementin orderto counter
its alienatingeffects.This involvesa reversalof the rhythmof
the discourseof urbanismso that its powerof persuasionis
subvertedand the resultingconditioningdiminished. Urban
detoumementis best deployedthroughthe creationof situations, which liberatecurrentsof energythat permitpeople to
make their own history.Unitaryurbanismis thereforealso
indissolublylinked with the revolutionof everydaylife:
We haveinventedthe architectureandthe urbanismthatcannot
be realizedwithoutthe revolutionof everydaylife - withoutthe
of conditioningby everyone,its endlessenrichment,
appropriation
its fulfillment.12
Constant, meanwhile, did not expect a total revolution to take
place in the very near future and saw his design for "another
city for another way of living" as a sort of strategyfor survival
in hard times."3In the course of 1960 the clash of opinions
within the group intensified and that summer Constant resigned from the SituationistInternational.14
New Babylon:Utopia and Negativity
"It is a matterof achieving the unknown by a deregulationof
the senses":that Constant chose this sentence of Arthur
Rimbaud'sas a motto for his description of "the New
Babylonian Culture" is no coincidence."5He deliberately
situated himself in the lineage of the avant-gardethat linked
27
assemblage 29
xZ,
2. New Babylon,Amsterdam,1963
k"L
l4e
MET
4va
4.1
A
ion
SA
Ag
SZE:
.,%Affbk?
Ams
upheavals in art with social and political revolution. If the
distinctive feature of the avant-gardewas its critical struggle
againstthe existing culture, then, in the contemporary
situation, artistswere to pave the way for an emergent culture of play.16Accordingly, Constant based his model for a
future society on transparencyin human relationships,
creativity,love, and play. New Babylon illustratesthe living
conditions of homo ludens, who has finally seized the baton
from homo faber. It takes off from the idea that the thoroughgoing automatizationof productionwill reach a point
where workbecomes unnecessary,enabling the masses to
enjoy unlimited free time. Sequences of "sectors,"gigantic
structuresbuilt on high supports,graduallycover the surface of the earth. They tower over a landscape that is devoted to a fully mechanized agriculturalindustryand
crisscrossedwith lanes of fast-movingtraffic.Life in the
sectors is one of total liberation. People inhabit an environment that is entirely free of oppressionand over which they
have full control. With the pressof a button, they can adjust
the level of temperature,the degree of humidity, the density of smells, and the intensity of light; with a few simple
operations,they can alter the shape of a room, decide
whether it is to be open or closed. They can choose between a large number of "atmospheres"that can be endlessly manipulated. Specific areasare given over to erotic
games, to experiments in filmmaking or radio, and to scientific testing;others are set aside for seclusion and rest. New
Babylon is a dynamic labyrinththat is alwaysbeing restructured by the spontaneityand creativityof its inhabitants,
who lead a nomadic existence based on a continual rejection of convention and of any form of permanence:
The sectorschangethroughall the activitywithinthem thatis
constantlyevolvingin formandatmosphere.Nobodywill everbe
able to returnto a placethathe visitedpreviously,nobodywill ever
recognizean imagethatexistsin his memory;this meansthat
nobodywill everlapseinto fixedhabits."'17
In New Babylon Constant gave primacyto public space. In a
passagefrom Opstand van de homo ludens, he stated that
public space is where people meet each other and thus the
arena for play. Without public space, he argued, no culture is
possible:the forum in classical times, the marketsquaresin
the Middle Ages, and the boulevardmore recently - this is
where cultural life developed.'8The covered, large-scale
structuresof New Babylon are clearly conceived as a continuation of this tradition.Implicit here is that Constant sees New
Babylon as a fulfillment of Lefebvre's"droit'a la ville,"an
expressionthat refersless to a definite physical city context
than to the presence of an urban atmospherethat involves
freedom, complexity, and limitless possibilities."9In placing
himself in a traditionof urbanitycharacterizedby the investment of public space with collective meaning and cultural
significance, Constant opposed the tendency towardthe "hollowing out" of public space being effectuated by the regime
of the spectacle.20 His collective spaces are not imagined as
spectacularsceneries where one comes merely to spend some
leisure time or to see and be seen. In New Babylon public
space is where one reallylives. It is the focus of all activities
and the carrierof all meanings. Privatespace is only available
to those who are ill or otherwise unable to participatein collective life.
Constant'sconcern for urban space led him in the 1960s to
collaborateclosely with the AmsterdamProvos,who were
attemptingto reclaim the streetfrom the automobile, to reinforce the urban culture by enhancing street life. And although Constant himself did not see New Babylon as a plan
that was technically viable or apt for immediate realization,
the Provosat one point proclaimedAmsterdamas the first
sector of New Babylon.21
Constant illustratedhis future city through an elaboratecollection of maps, models, drawings,and paintings. His maps,
which show the whole series of linked structuresstretching
out acrossthe landscape, exist on variousscales, startingwith
28
Heynen
3. Symbolic representation of New
Babylon, 1969
.............
..........
iiiiiiiiii!i•
.
4. Collage view of New Babylon
a quasi-Europeandimension (as, for example, with a map
for the Ruhr area of New Babylon) and continuing with
those that simulate the development of concrete cities or
city districts(Amsterdam,Antwerp,Paris,and so on). The
backgroundinto which they are set can be completely abstractand neutral or based on existing contemporaryor
historical maps. In one intriguing series of collages sectors
are created out of partsof other urban plans. For instance,
in a symbolic depiction of New Babylon dating from 1969
fragmentsof existing city maps are pasted onto a background that reveals some evidence of roadswith thicker
partsfor intersections. Street names can still just be read on
the map fragments,so that they evoke specific cities. It is
possible to discern a piece of London and a piece of Berlin,
alongside a districtof Amsterdamand an area of a Spanish
city. It is as though Constant is suggesting, through this
ditournement,that New Babylon will unite the qualities of
all these cities.
In the initial yearsof workon his project, Constant also
made ample models in a varietyof forms.The firstrelatedto
New Babylondates from 1956 and was meant as a design
proposalfor a gypsyencampment in Alba. An umbrellashaped transparentconstructionpartiallycovers a space in
which one can vaguelydiscern a spiralshape. With the use
of screens and palings the gypsieswere invited to create their
own site. Constantagain took up the circularform with two
of 1959 and 1960. Resemblingspace stations
"spatiovores"
landed
on earth,transparentshell-shapedstrucaccidentally
tures rise high above the ground, supportedat only three
points. Inside the shell, sections of floor made of Perspexare
suspended in the air by means of rodsand wires.Judgingby
the size of the objects on the ground in the spatiovoreof 1960,
these models must representtoweringconstructionsthat cover
a considerablearea. Nothing, however, indicatesthe precise
function of these gigantic shells.
Formally, the spatiovoresare autonomous elements, which
makes them ratherexceptional within the overall framework
of New Babylon. The other models are instead conceived of
as partsof sectorsthat can easily be linked to each other. For
instance, in the model for the yellow sector of 1958 (which
Constant described in Internationalesituationniste)the construction is held up by a few massive pylons, with a sort of
lattice construction propping up the floor and roof slabs. In
one corner a circular structurehas become separatefrom the
rest;this has six floor slabs on top of each other with short
gaps between, in contrastto the two slabs of the main structure. The whole is held together by a flat yellow roof slab. On
the different "stories,"a collection of folded collapsible walls
29
assemblage 29
5. Spatiovore, 1960
can be used to demarcate differentspaces. What matters
here are not enclosed volumes, but interpenetratingspaces.
Also strikingare the models of labyrinthinespaces, such as
the small labyrinthof 1959 or the mobile "ladderlabyrinth"
of 1967. This last, made of brass,Perspex,and wood, recalls
a wire model for one of Theo van Doesburg'scounterconstructionswith its floating surfacesand interpenetrating
volumes.
Yet in none of the models for New Babyloncan one ascribe
definite functions to specific partsof the building, nor calculate with any accuracythe scale or other concrete detail. The
real problem is that the tension between the largerstructures
that are fixed and the smaller-scaleinteriorstructuresthat
are flexible and labyrinthineis not alwaysfully workedout.
Constanthimself declared that "the real designersof New
but the modBabylonwill be the Babyloniansthemselves,"22
els fail to suggestthis in any clear way. The atmosphereof an
airportis often broughtto mind - something that occurs
explicitlyin a model of 1959 that ConstantdubbedAmbiance de ddpart- and thus perhapsa nomadic mode of life
made possible by technology. What these models do give,
above all, is a picture of an artificialworlddominatedby
technology, in which artificialmaterialsand ingenious constructiontechniques combine to make a type of structure
that existsseparatefrom the landscapeand whose typical
featuresare interpenetrationand indeterminacy.
Perhapsbecause the model-sculptureswere a limited form of
representation,Constant relied increasinglyon drawingsand
The least
paintings as his workon New Babylon progressed.23
of
the
are
the
architectural
appealing
perspectives,
drawings
such as the bird's-eyeview of a group sector that dates from
1964. Fairlydetailed depictions of large-scaleconstructions
that form a sort of chain undulating through the landscape,
they lack the poetic power and intensity of Constant'sother
sketches. A small group of drawingsemphasize constructional
aspects, the artist'saim apparentlybeing to persuade the public of the viabilityof his proposal.Far more interestingare the
numerous sketches that evoke the constructionalprinciples of
New Babylon ratherthan showing them in technical detail.
One strikingdrawingplays two structuralprinciples against
each other: to the right, a lattice column covers a large area
with its narrowconnecting rods and points of intersection;
left of center, an extremelyslender element resembles a vertical version of the logic of a three-pointedarch.24Whether the
narrowstructureis really capable of supportis doubtful, but
hardlyto the point. It is the interaction between these two
forms and the patternof lines of force they suggest that gives
this drawingits character.Similar remarksmight be made
about a sketch of 1962 that illustratesa lattice construction
for a sector of New Babylon set in a hilly landscape, with a lift
(Aufzug)linking the inhabited areasto the ground.25 Here,
too, there are slender structuresand minimal indications of
supportpoints and lines of force.
30
Heynen
?10
7 4,
6. Model of yellow sector, 1958
ki
•kIL
ts:
O
l
i i
i
l itiiii............................
•'•'•'M
........................................................
~i•iii:'i•iii•!!•
iiii!!!iiii
••i!ii
!i'ii
~iiiii~!iii!~!iii!
i•i''
!i!•'•!
'i? i•••~••i
t !•i
•iiiiiiiiiiiiiii-o
i~iiiiiiiiiiii~iiii~~~~iiii~~iii•ii•
"A
iiiiiiiii~~i~ii?
iii~
iii.
....iiii
lUi~
.
7. Detail of model
................
8. Mobile ladderlabyrinth, 1967
9. Bird's-eyeview of group sector, 1964
31
tii<l
assemblage 29
0 t~~
ing:i........•
Uni
.
edd~a
(T44-
-197'4196
:
10. Untitled drawing (T44-X-1974),1962
32
Heynen
.... .
--Moo......•ii;?'•.=;,i~i,?,=
............
................
... .....
...N,•I•.•
.....••.k,••.
•,
,•
11.Untitled drawing (T95-83), 1962
33
•i
, ,•i
assemblage 29
12. Untitled drawing (T2-1980), 1962
i?~
...............
~
.
13. Labyratoire,1962
..
...
iiii~
i~iiiiiiiiiiiii
ii
iiiiii~iii!iiiii~iiii~iii~ii~iiiii~~iiii
ii~
ii~i~i
i'i!!!]
iii~i~iii~~i•!
i,!i!iiiM
U,!i••i~•.......
.
M
!1!!!!!!ii
,i~i~~i~ii•,i~
..........................
...I...............................::
The printsand drawingsin which Constant gives an impression of the spatial characterof New Babylon are also
numerous. Featuressuggesting dynamism and mobility stairs,ladders,lifts, adjustablewalls - are frequentlyemphasized. At the same time, many of the interiorviews give
the sense of a somewhat suffocatinglabyrinthinespace, a
boundless area in which one can lose one's way ad
infinitum: staircasesand passagesthat lead nowhere,
heavily drawnshadowswith Piranesianspaces outlined
againstthem. Now and then blobs appearthat look roughly
like human silhouettes. It is typical that these silhouettes
never become individualized. One cannot discern their sex
or age, nor see their face, nor interprettheir expression.In
drawingswhere a largernumber appear,there seems to be
no interaction among them: these figures traversethe labyrinth alone.
What most unites the drawingsis, in fact, the tension they
convey. Constant often creates this tension by opposing fragile shapes to compact ones, darkto light, dynamic lines to
static volumes. Sometimes he produces tension through the
rhythm of the walls that give structureto the space depicted,
or through the movement of the human figures acrossit, or
through the distortionsof perspective.The viewer is subjected
to a continual oscillation between impressionsof liberation
and of Unheimlichkeit.In many ways, New Babylon fulfills
the expectationsof an absolutelyliberatedspace, where the
individual is free to construct his or her own environment
within a general structurethat fully harnessesthe poetic potential of technology. The movable walls, ladders,lifts, and
stairwayscan suggest the possibilityof endless journeysand
new encounters. But these drawingsalso betraya feeling of
unease through the indifference with which the earth'ssur34
Heynen
M W
14. Ode a I'Odeon, 1969
face has been stripped,through the colossal scale of the
structuresthat supportthe sectors, and through the endlessness of the interiorspaces that never seem to permit contact
with the outside world.
The same tension inhabits the paintings that Constant
produced during his New Babylon period. Initially, in his
most radical phase, Constant avoided painting on principle,
viewing it as a bourgeois and reactionaryart. Nonetheless,
he never entirely abandoned his brushes, even if he ceased
to exhibit or sell any canvases.The paintings of these years
take up the themes and motifs of his project - labyrinths,
ladders,homo ludens - but they are better not seen as direct
illustrationsof life in New Babylon. Rather,they constitute a
reflection at a distance, accompanying the workon New
Babylon. They might even be understoodas a critique of the
simplistic way in which the models and narrativespresent the
society of the future, renderingvisible many contradictions
and incommensurabilities.
In some of these paintings the element of play comes to the
fore in the form of carnival-likefigures in scenes that teem
35
assemblage 29
with activity.In Fiesta Gitana of 1958 brilliant,fiery
splashes of paint dominate, yet there is an unmistakably
somber undertone, as though Constant were acknowledging that festivaland violence, joy and chaos, creation and
destructionare ineluctably linked. Homo Ludens, a painting of 1964, is exuberantin its range of color and its festive
atmosphere.The figures are executed in garishcolors that
spill over into the surroundingareas.But here, too, a dark
undertone is noticeable, both in the black backgroundthat
rejects the expansive joy of the merrymakersand in the
attitude of the human figures to one another - as though
no real contact exists between them.
In the labyrinthinepaintingsthis conflict is even more pronounced. Ode a l'Odedon
of 1969, painted in shades of gray
and beige brightenedoccasionallywith white, depicts an
unending Piranesianspace, a wholly interiorworld dense
with walls, palings, and ladders.Transparentscreens,
gridlikesurfaces,and sections of floorsare crisscrossedsupported?- by horizontal,vertical,and diagonallines. No
definite perspectiveexistshere, no central point from which
the spatialorganizationcan be graspedas a whole. In this
opaque space human silhouetteswanderaimlesslyand without interaction.In Ladderlabyrinthof 1971, dominated by a
yellow with orange hues combined with pink and bright
yellow, the spatialorganizationis even more confused than
in Ode a l'Oddeon:
sight lines disappearaltogether;the placement of surfacesand lines seems to fostera deliberateambiguity. The two indistinctpink and graysilhouettesthat form
the focus of the painting, however,seem to be linked by
invisible threadsof desire, a sexual component missingfrom
earlierworkrelatedto New Babylon.
Constant'sgestureof farewellto New Babylonmight be
found in a paintingof 1973 entitled Terrainvague.An almost
apocalypticallyvacatedspace is set againsta horizon blackas
night. The foregroundand edges of the visual field are
patched and cut with lines. Barelyrecognizablein the distance is a structureout of New Babylon.A few walls and
screenspoint one's gaze towardthe depths.On closer inspection, the monotonousyellow-whitesurfacethat occupies the
greaterpartof the paintingturnsout to overlaya more complex backgroundcollaged from newspaperand other imag-
ery. Is this a palimpsestrepresentingthe end of history?The
painting'stitle means "wasteland,"but it is clear that this land
is not reallyempty:it is coveredwith tracesand scarsthat inscribea veryspecific historyon the spot. Consideringthat New
Babylonis elsewherepicturedas the place of an eternalpresent
(because no place in it can ever be recognizedby its inhabitants), this provesa strangecompilationof images. One is
temptedto see Terrainvague as emergingfrom an understanding of the incompatibilitiesbetween the realityof a wasteland
that is alwaysoccupied by hidden memoriesand the impossible
utopia of New Babylonwhere memoriesand historyare declared irrelevant.And one wonderswhether,afterall, Constant
does not ratheropt for historythan for an eternalpresent.
New Babylon describes a world where people are liberated
from all forms and conventions; where fixed patternsof social
obligations and loyalties to family or to specific places are
dissolved;where the law of the transitoryprevails;where immediate situationshave primacyover permanent structures.
The commonplace - the ordinary,everydayframeworkthat
gives life its form - has been abolished in this brave,new
world. With it, it would seem, the possibilityof "dwelling"has
also disappeared.For dwelling, inhabitation,has to do with
developing habits, with habituatingoneself to a certain pattern. This is precisely what Constant declared to be impossible in New Babylon. But does dwelling in a situation of
pure indeterminacyrespond to people's deepest desires?
New Babylon visualizes the dream of ultimate transparency
that Benjamin detected in the avant-gardeof the 1920s.26 It
presentsan image of a social form in which the desires of the
individual and the needs of the community are inseparably
entwined. As Constant described it, it is a society with no
need for secrecy or possessions;it is an absolute collectivity in
which the general interest coincides with the sum of individual interests.New Babylon, it would seem, is a society
without power relations. But the internal contradictionsof
such a utopian vision, as has been suggested above, surface
involuntarilyin Constant'sdrawingsand paintings.27
Failing to take into account the "micrologyof power,"the
social theoryunderlyingNew Babylon makes an abstractionof
the finely meshed interplaybetween the principles on which
the social system is founded and the psychologicalmecha36
Heynen
•NE"
•',•,•
-•,
.•........
Terain.v.....19.
15.
37
.
~~~~~~~~.
~~~
....,...
••
i •iii ! !! '"•
i
i••,iii
..,•
assemblage 29
nisms that guide individualbehavior.And yet Constant, in
some ways,seems to recognize the problem.The drawings
and paintingsform a sortof modificationof his discourseof a
utopian world. In the complexitythat one gets an inkling of
from the drawingsand that comes to full maturityin the
paintings,the "darkside"of New Babylonis clearlypresent.
The drawingsand paintingsshow a condition in which wanderlustand freedom from permanentties are untrammeled,
but they also make evident that this condition is inseparably
bound up with the death drive,with groundlessnessand
indeterminacy.A painting, as Constantfirstsaid in his COBRAperiod, is an animal, a night, a scream, a human being,
or all of it together.This notion continues to reverberatein
his workon New Babylon.As a result,the paintingsmake
visible something that Constantwas still able to conceal in
his models and narratives:the fact that this utopian world is
not perfectand harmonious,that the dismantlingof all conventions leads to a zero point of human existence in which
the authenticitythat is strivenfor is reduced to a torrentof
perceptionsand sensationsand nothing more than that no longer an ideal but a caricature.Strikingly,in this sense,
New Babylonprovidesits own multilayeredcommentaryon
the impossibilityof giving utopia a concrete form:indeed,
one cannot "dwell"in New Babylon.
In AestheticTheoryTheodor Adorno stated that art'sinvolvement with utopia gives rise to the most central among
the antinomies that govern its present condition.
One of the crucialantinomiesof arttodayis thatit wantsto be
andmustbe squarelyUtopian,as socialrealityincreasinglyimpedesUtopia,whileat the sametime it shouldnot be Utopianso
comfortandillusion.28
as not to be foundguiltyof administering
This is exactlywhat becomes apparentin Constant'sNew
Babylon.As a project that strivesto be an embodiment of
the utopian end situation of history,it is based on the negation of all that is false and fraudulentin the present societal
condition. The ultimate quality of the project, however,
does not stem from its potential to offer a harmonic or idyllic image of this future. On the contrary,New Babylon does
not lend itself as an instrumentof semblance or consolation. Its truth lies in its very negativityand in the dissonances that pervadethe images of harmony.
Notes
1. For a recent monographic study
on the whole of Constant's oeuvre,
see Jean-Clarence Lambert,Constant: Les TroisEspaces (Paris:
Cercle d'Art, 1992).
2. For the historyof the Situationist
International,see Jean-Franqois
Martos,Histoirede l'Internationale
situationniste(Paris:Gerard
Lebovici, 1989), Elisabeth Sussmann, ed., On the Passageof a Few
People througha RatherBriefMoment in Time:The SituationistInternational 1957-1972 (Cambridge,
Mass.:The MIT Press, 1991), Sadie
Plant, The Most Radical Gesture:
The SituationistInternationalin a
PostmodernAge (London: Routledge, 1992), and R. J. Sanders,
Bewegingtegen de schijn: De
situationisten,een avant-garde
(Amsterdam:Huis aan de Drie
Grachten, 1989).
3. Gilles Ivain, "Formulairepour
un urbanismenouveau,"Internationale situationniste 1 (June 1958):
15-20; English trans.in Ken Knabb,
ed., Situationist InternationalAnthology (Berkeley:Bureau of Public
Secrets, 1981), 1-4.
4. Ibid., 2.
5. Guy Debord, "Theorie de la
d6rive,"Internationalesituationniste 2 (December 1958): 19-23;
English trans. in Situationist International Anthology, 50-54.
6. Constant and Guy Debord, "La
Declaration d'Amsterdam,"
Internationalesituationniste 2
(December 1958): 31-32; English
trans. in Ulrich Conrad, ed., Programsand Manifestoeson 20thcenturyArchitecture(Cambridge,
Mass.: The MIT Press, 1990), 16162. French text: "L'urbanisme
unitaire se definit dans l'activite
complexe et permanente qui
38
consciemment, recreel'environment de l'homme selon les conceptions les plus evoluees dans tous les
domaines."
7. See Constant, "Une autre ville
pour une autre vie," Internationale
situationniste 3 (December 1959):
37-40; idem, "Description de la
zone jaune," Internationale
situationniste 4 (June 1960): 23-26.
8. See "Critique de l'urbanisme,"
Internationalesituationniste 6 (August 1961): 5-11.
9. The artistsof the German section of the Situationist International, the SPUR group, did not
limit themselves to texts and pamphlets. In 1963, for instance, they
produced a SPUR building, which,
like New Babylon, can be seen as
foreshadowingthe future world of
play. The SPUR-Utopia, however,
was never as elaboratedas New
Babylon. See Wolfgang Dressen,
Dieter Kunzelmann, and Eckard
Stepmann, eds., Nilpferd des
hllischen Urwalds - Spuren in
eine unbekannteStadt - Situationisten, Gruppe SPUR, KommuneI
(Berlin: Ausstellung im WerkbundArchiv, 1991).
10. Attila Kotuinyiand Raoul
Vaneigem, "Programmeel6mentaire
du bureau d'urbanismeunitaire,"
Internationalesituationniste6 (August 1961): 16-19; English trans.
adaptedfrom Situationist International Anthology,65-67. French
text: "Laparticipationdevenue impossible est compense sous forme
de spectacle. Le spectacle se manifeste dans l'habitatet le deplacement
(standingdu logement et des
v'hicules personnels). Car, en fait,
on n'habite pas un quartierd'une
ville, mais le pouvoir. On habite
quelque partdans la
hierarchie."
11. Ibid. French text: "L'urbanisme
unitaire est le contraire d'une
Heynen
activit6 sp6cialis6e; et reconnaitre
un domaine urbanistique s6par6,
c'est d6jaireconnaitre tout le
mensonge urbanistique et le
mensonge dans toute la vie."
12. Ibid. French text: "Nous avons
invent6 l'architecture et l'urbanisme
qui ne peuvent pas se r6alisersans
la revolution de la vie quotidienne;
c'est-a-direl'appropriationdu
conditionnement par tous les
hommes, son enrichissement
ind6fini, son accomplissement."
13. See Constant, "Une autre ville
pour une autre vie."
14. See the reportof Constant's retreat in Internationalesituationniste
5 (December 1960): 10; cf. Constant, "New Babylon na tien jaren,"
lecture at the Technical University
of Delft, 23 May 1980.
15. Constant, "New Babylon, een
schets voor een kultuur,"in New
Babylon, exhibition catalogue (The
Hague: Haags Gemeentemuseum,
1974), 49-63, 57: "Il s'agit d'arriver
al'inconnu par le d6r'glement de
tous les sens."
16. Constant, "Opkomsten
ondergang van de avant-garde,"in
Opstand van de homo ludens: Een
bundel voordrachtenen artikelen
(Bussum: Paul Brand, 1969), 11-48.
17. Constant, "New Babylon, een
schets voor een kultuur,"60.
18. Constant, "Over normen in de
cultuur," in Opstand van de homo
ludens, 73.
19. Henri Lefebvre, Le Droit a' la
ville (Paris:Anthropos, 1968), 132:
"Le droit 'ala ville ne peut se
concevoir comme un simple droit
de visite ou de retourvers les villes
traditionelles. 11ne peut se formuler
comme droit a la vie urbaine,
transform6e,renouvel6e. Que la tissue urbaine enserre la campagne et
ce qui survitde vie paysanne, peu
importe, pourvu que Turbain,' lieu
de rencontre, priorit6de la valeur
d'usage, inscription dans l'espace
d'un temps promu au rang de bien
supreme parmi les biens, trouve sa
base morphologique, sa r6alisation
pratico-sensible."Whereas it is unclear whether a direct relationship
existed between Constant and
Lefebvre, the links between Debord
and Lefebvre are well documented
and there is no doubt about the
mutual influence between
Lefebvre'swritings and early
Situationist theory.
20. Compare the argument in
Thomas McDonough, "Situationist
Space," October67 (Winter 1994):
59-77, esp. 75-77.
21. Virginie Mamadouh, De stad
in eigen hand: Provo's,kaboutersen
krakersals stedelijkesociale
beweging (Amsterdam:Sua, 1992),
Benjamins oproep tot een nieuw
barbarendom,"Benjamin Journaal
3 (1995): 103-19.
27. See Jeroen Onstenk, "In het
labyrint:Utopie en verlangen in
het werk van Constant,"Krisis 15
(1984): 4-21.
28. Theodor W. Adorno,Aesthetic
Theory(London: Routledge and
Kegan Paul, 1986), 47. For the
original German, see Theodor W.
Adorno, AesthetischeTheorie
(Frankfurtam Main: Suhrkamp,
1970), 55: "Zentralunter den
gegenwartigen Antinomien ist, dass
Kunst Utopie sein muss und will
und zwar desto entschiedener, je
mehr der reale Funktionszusammenhang Utopie verbaut;dass
sie aber, um nicht Utopie an
Schein und Trost zu verraten,nicht
Utopie sein darf."
72-73.
22. Constant, "Autodialoog,"in
New Babylon, 71-72.
23. See Constant, "New Babylon
na tien jaren,"3: "Apparentlymy
models have sown confusion, rather
than furtheringany understanding
of my effortsto imagine a world
that differs so profoundly from the
world in which we live or from any
world that we have any historical
knowledge of. Finally, I resorted
once more to brush and palette as
the most appropriatemeans of rendering the unknown visible."
24. The drawing indicated with the
code T44-X-1974 in the
Gemeentemuseum, the Hague.
25. The drawing indicated with the
code T95-83 in the Gemeentemuseum.
26. See Hilde Heynen, "Wonen in
een huis van glas: Walter
39
Figure Credits
1, 2, 9-15. Collection of Haags
Gemeentemuseum, The Hague.
3-8. Collection of the artist.