De New Babylon Informatief no. 1

Harry Bartels et al. (Eds.) - De New Babylon Informatief no. 1. Publication devoted to Constant Nieuwenhuys' New Babylon. This issue was published on the occasion of the Babylon exposition in Maastricht from July 15 - August 15, 1965.

Condition: Folded in 4; Creases; Discoloration. Overall condition: Good.
Magazine 1st Edition 1st Printing. Publisher: Stichting Artishock, Maastricht. Year: 1965.
Size: 52.1 x 34.8 cm. Pages: 1. Language: Dutch. Seller inventory: #26666.

Background information

Constant (1920-2005) - Constant Anton Nieuwenhuys a.k.a. Constant was born in Amsterdam in 1920, where he also followed a fine arts education. In 1946, he meets Asger Jorn at an exhibition in Paris. This encounter becomes the start of the Dutch Experimental Group. In December 1947, Appel and Corneille get in touch with Constant after hearing about the Dutch Experimental Group. December 16^th, 1947 the magazine Reflex of The Experimental Group Holland is founded by Constant, Corneille and Karel Appel.

November 8^th 1948, the Cobra group is founded in Paris. Cobra is a partnership between the ‘Dutch Experimental Group’, the Danish ‘Høst group’ and the Belgian ‘Groupe Surréaliste Révolutionaire’. The name CoBrA is a derivative of the three cities where the groups originate from: Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam.

In 1958, after leaving the COBRA movement, Constant joined the Situationist International, which he left again in 1960. Around 1958, he abandoned painting to devote himself exclusively for eighteen years to New Babylon, a radical illustration of Guy Debord's “unitary urbanism”. His utopian planetary city project, anticipating the research of Yona Friedman and radical groups like Archigram, became a benchmark in the architectural imagination of the 20th century.

De New Babylon Informatief - Four issues of De New Babylon Informatief were published as catalogs for four different exhibitions of the work of Constant.

• Issue 1, published by Stichting Artishock, was published in July 1965 for the exhibition New Babylon at the Dominicanerkerk in Maastricht, The Netherlands from July 15 till August 15, 1965.
• Issue 2, edited by Victor Nieuwenhuys, was published by Anarchitectura in October 1965 for the exhibition Constant | schilderijen plastieken New Babylon at Gemeentemuseum The Hague, The Netherlands from October 2 till November 22, 1965.
• Issue 3, edited by Victor Nieuwenhuys, was published in German by Anarchitectura in January 1966 for the exhibition Constant | Bilder, Gouaches und Plastiken at Galerie Rudolf Zwirner in Köln, Germany from January 14 till February 11, 1966.
• Issue 4, edited by R.W.D. Oxenaar, G.J.A. Bolte, H.J.A.M. Haaren & D. Welling, was published by A. Spin & zoon NV in 1966 for Constant’sexhibition in the Dutch pavilion of the 23^th Venice Biennale. The 8 pages of issue 4 were abundantly illustrated with drawings and photographs and a color plan in a central double page. 

Refs: http://www.lecointredrouet.com/actualite.php?ActuNum=54. Accessed May 2021; www.stichtingconstant.nl. Accessed May 2021.