Détournement as a philosophy and artistic style

By Nancy C. Harris

Based on the four basic principles of détournement, as proposed by Guy Debord & Gil Wolman in their text “A User’s Guide to Détournement” (originally published in the Belgian surrealist journal Les Lèvres Nues #8. May, 1956), this style could represent the most meaningful vehicle of proletarian artistic education thanks to its applications and the wide range of elements of which it can make use.

Translated from French, détournement means deflection, diversion, rerouting, distortion, misuse, misappropriation, hijacking or otherwise turning something aside from its normal cause or purpose. This connotation roughly explains this artistic style that doubles as a philosophy that pursues a change of paradigms in a primarily capitalist world.  

In order to produce a piece through détournement, “it is necessary to eliminate all remnants of the notion of personal property,” which allows the use of materials or elements from other authors to create new combinations that “alter the meaning of those fragments in any appropriate way.”

According to Debord & Wolman,” there are two types of détournement elements: Minor détournement and Deceptive détournement.

Minor détournement is the manipulation of an object that by itself has no relevance and, therefore, draws a whole different meaning based on the new context in which it has been placed, for instance, a picture of a politician on a toilet lid cover.

Deceptive détournement is the use of an “intrinsically significant element”, which derives a completely diverse connotation drawn from the new context, for example, when you employ St. Francis of Assisi’s Prayer as a background for a film that reenacts the crusades from the 13^th century.

“A User’s Guide to Détournement” also identifies the following four basic principles:

1)      It is the most distant détournement element which contributes to most sharply to the overall impression, and not the elements that directly determine the nature of this impression.

2)      The distortions introduced in the detourned elements must be as simplified as possible, since the main impact of a détournement is directly related to the conscious or semiconscious recollection of the original contexts of the elements.

3)      Détournement is less effective the more it approaches a rational reply.

4)      Détournement by simply reversal is always the most direct and the least effective.

It is worth mentioning that the authors of this text had a very passionate pursuit for equality, and their philosophical efforts were inclined towards the strengthening of communism, or socialism. It was their belief that the spread of détournement would have propagandistic benefits and eventually would develop into an enlightened society where art, intellectualism, and philosophy were all part of a dialogue in which all individuals are engaged.

Debord & Wolman also think that, from all forms of art, cinema is the discipline that would profit better from détournement and achieve its greatest beauty, due to the endless possibilities that the combination of its elements has to offer. In my opinion, these thinkers were strongly ahead of their time when they came to that conclusion, considering that the introduction of digital video added a whole new layer of complexity to détournement in films.

* “A User’s Guide to Détournement.” Translation by Ken Knabb from the Situationist International Anthology (Revised and Expanded Edition, 2006) No copyright.