Fixing a mailing address in Brussels has no urgency. It would only facillitate direct contacts with people in Belgium or Holland. Aside from the practical point of view, we think that it will be necessary to emphasize the centralized aspect of the [situationist] movement. I believe that, in this respect, the signature upon the anti-AICA[1] tract by the six people responsible for it is good, implicitly introducing the idea of a sort of central committee formed of delegates from each section. We are happy that contacts with Gruppe 11[2] are developing favorably. Any member of this group who passes through Paris must come at the beginning of May -- before then I might still be in Italy and [Asger] Jorn might still be in England. We also envision other meetings with you in May (at the same time, for example?)
Concerning the journal, there is still a delay. Now take 25 April as the deadline for the arrival of your writings -- at l'impasse de Clairvaux. But we absolutely count on them. Moreover, it will be necessary to send me the exact references concerning the publication dates (May or shortly thereafter?), in Holland and Belgium, of the articles ("History of Taptoe"[3]) of which you have spoken (so they can be published in the report on our editorial activities).
We come now to the essential: the action against the [art] critics.
It would be troublesome if Korun is not admitted, but it would be for an honorable reason, and the fact of having nothing in common with this organization will add to the purity of the gesture.
The idea of using pretty girls to distribute the tract is excellent, but:
1) Bear in mind the fact that, even if this tract is hidden in envelopes, the results will be felt in a short period of time. Everything leads one to believe that no one will be able to gracefully ask the young girls to leave the press throng. And, unless you have about thirty of them to constitute replacement teams, what will guarantee you the ability to effectuate distribution the whole day on Sunday? The critics will arrive spaced out over the entire day.
2) This can not in any case replace the public intervention. Because our goal isn't as much to personally trouble the critics -- who will then be silent about this affair. What will send to the entire world an account of the day in Brussels is the success of a gesture of propaganda to the international press. It is necessary to be the subject of one of these news chronicles. At the minimum, what will be absolutely necessary is throwing the tracts at the assembly. You will always succeed at getting someone inside -- disguised as a plumber or lead-worker, if necessary. There will be no reason for the police to protect this particular assembly. We don't have to make a scandal in the surrealist sense. We must simply make known our positions at a meeting to which we were not invited to speak. At most, this will be an impoliteness. But it must be remarked.
If you deploy the "situationist hostesses," which is, in itself, very good -- but partial -- it seems that you must adopt this calendar:
Late Saturday night: mail the printed tracts (for which we sent, yesterday, a list of addresses that you must complete, especially where the press in Brussels is concerned. Immediately prepare the stamped envelopes).
All day Sunday: distribution -- try to distribute to the press corps.
Sunday night to Monday: paste upon the walls a hundred tracts on one side and a hundred tracts on the other, two by two, side by side, plus about fifty tracts that evoke the most constructive aspects ("New Theatre of Operations in Culture"[4] and "To the Producers of Modern Art") that Jorn will bring you -- but which must not be thrown at the same time as the "Address."
Finally, Monday or, if not, Tuesday: at the moment that appears the most favorable, throw the "Address" at a meeting where the press is present -- and, if possible, attempt to read the text aloud, with either microscopic or great chances of being heard.
This succession of limited operations raises the risk of failure. But, if you can be sure that the surprise intervention -- read and throw at the assembly -- will succeed, you should refrain from the Sunday distribution and perhaps even from the wall-pasting.
Finally, write to us quickly with all the results, and send the largest possible number of press clippings relating your exploits: I need commentaries on the expedition that will find a good place in Internationale Situationniste.
After the scandal, if you have the occasion to respond to the newspapers so as to rectify something, always do it -- in the name of the Belgian section [of the Situationist International] -- with an aggravated violence, but also refer to the constructive perspectives that you represent (but haven't developed in this framework).
The ball's in your court. Good luck,[1] Association Internationale de Critiques d'Art [International Association of Art Critics].
[2] Group of artists from Stuttgart [Germany].
[3] Published in Kunstmeridaan, #4-5, vol. V, Brussels; cf. I.S. #1, p. 27.
[4] Tract published in January 1958 by the French section of the SI ("The dissolution of antiquated ideas goes hand-in-hand with the dissolution of antiquated conditions of existence").
(Published in Guy Debord, Correspondance, Volume 1, 1957-1960. Footnotes by Alice Debord. Translated from the French by NOT BORED! May 2005.)