[reth]Inking the City

Simon Sadler’s “Formulary for a New Urbanism” provided, finally, a broader array of situationist images than Tom McDonough had in “Situationist Space.” Where McDonough focused almost exclusively on Guy Debord’s The Naked City, Sadler incorporated images from situationist publications like Potlach, paintings favored by Debord such as Claude Lorrain’s Seaport with Setting Sun, and a photographic records of a “drift” as well as others. The total effect is of a more inclusive description of situationism, encompassing the views of situationists other than just Debord. A more well rounded approach to a description of situationism provides three dimensionality to the movement. Apparently the movement included quite a few people – enough so that there were factions; the least orthodox of which were blasted. Some of these people, apparently, where also women and non-Europeans. McDonough had left me with the sense that the movement was much more insular.
McDonough’s article had painted a more severe portrait (or should I say “collage?”) of the situationists. Sadler’s focus widened and softened. They were drunkards? Junkies?? Lazy “turn on, tune in, drop out” vagrants?! My my!
Sadler included some situationist relatied images that were much more engaging than The Naked City, like “plotting of all trajectories effected in a year by a student inhabiting the 16th Arrondissement.” Unlike The Naked City, this provided sufficient impetus for personal reflection. Where do I go? Where don’t I go? Sadler’s situationists are more willing to engage me in a dialogue than are McDonough’s.

Question 1: Why is Debord so worried about the idea of chance, in the drift in particular?

Question 2: Why can’t drifters “let go?”