- 1968 - what to cherish and what to discard
- 1968, the view from outside London - Swansea!
- Artistic Modernism as Reply to Mass Media
- Credit Crunch, Food Riots and the New Capitalist Crisis
- May 1968
- Short Story Writing
- Stopping the War in 1968 and 2008
- The Bishop, the Beatniks and Free Derry Wall
- Films
- All Talks
Games
Submitted by Andrew on Mon, 21/04/2008 - 13:43.
Room:
Main HallGames will be played all day on the stage of the main hall.
CLASS WARGAMES PRESENT
GUY DEBORD’S THE GAME OF WAR
Karl Marx remarks somewhere that the great events of revolutionary history occur twice: the first time as fighting in the streets and fields; the second as tabletop encounters.
Class Wargames are playing Guy Debord’s The Game of War using a replica of his original 1977 design for the board game.
Guy Debord is celebrated as the leader of the Situationist International and author of the searing critique of the media-saturated society of consumer capitalism: The Society of the Spectacle. What is less well known is that after the May ’68 Revolution, Debord devoted much of the rest of his life to inventing, refining and promoting what he came to regard as his most important project: The Game of War.
Politics is a continuation of war by other means.
The Game of War is a Clausewitz simulator: a Napoleonic-era military strategy game where armies must maintain their communications structure to survive - and where victory is achieved by smashing your opponent’s supply network rather than by taking their pieces.
For Debord, The Game of War wasn’t just a game - it was a guide to how people should live their lives within Fordist society. By playing this Clausewitz simulator, revolutionary activists could learn how to fight and win against the oppressors of spectacular society.
The 1789 French Revolution brought great changes in the art of war. Similarly, the establishment of spectacular domination has radically altered the art of government.
PLUS:
Copplestone Castings’
BACK OF BEYOND
Somewhere in Siberia – Summer 1919
Led by Leon Trotsky, Red infantry, sailors and partisans are advancing along the Trans-Siberian railway. Units of Admiral Kolchak’s White Russian army and the Czech Legion decide to make a stand at a straggling trackside village.
A simple clash of ideologies? You might think so, but look more closely at the two forces and you’ll see in microcosm all the political confusion that divided Russia during its civil war.
Meet the Players!
Situationism in England: from King Mob Echo to Class Wargames
Tower Room 2 at 2.00pm