On 27-28 January 1996, I co-organised, with Andrew Hussey, a conference on situationist revolt at the legendary Haçienda night club in Manchester. The club’s name was inspired by Ivan Chtcheglov’s text on ‘unitary urbanism’, which declared: ‘The Hacienda must be built’ (the ‘Hacienda’ being a place in an imagined city where citizens came to throw off the shackles of everyday life).
Contributors to the conference, and the subsequent book (which you can download below), included Anthony H Wilson, Mark E Smith, Jon King, Stewart Home, Ralph Rumney, Patrick ffrench and David Bellos. The event was widely denounced as ‘academic recuperation’ and even demonstrated against by ‘pro-situ’ elements…