jan 1, 1959 - Constant Nieuwenhuys, New Babylon

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1959 - 1974

Utopian anti-capitalist city

Constant Nieuwenhuys (1920-2005) was a Dutch artist and one of the founding members of the Situationist International formed in 1957. He is also known for his utopian project, New Babylon, started in 1956 and on which he worked for nearly twenty years. Constant was one of the theoretical drivers behind the Situationists alongside Guy Debord (1931-1994) and it was a widening gulf between their two positions that eventually led Nieuwenhuys to leave the group in 1960.

With New Babylon he creates a vision of a worldwide network of connected cities of the future. Land is collectively owned and labor fully automated. The need to work is replaced by a nomadic lifestyle of creative play. New Babylon is inhabited by homo ludens, who liberated from labor, has no need for art because he can be creative in his daily life.

New Babylon was elaborated in an endless series of models, sketches, etchings, lithographs, collages, architectural drawings, and photocollages, as well as in manifestos, essays, lectures, and films. New Babylon is a form of propaganda that critiques conventional social structures.

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