Workshop for Non-Linear Architecture: Difference between revisions

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The artist, [[Ralph Rumney]] (1934-2002), who had known many of the original Parisian leaders, participated in one of the groups derived in London in 1995. He is credited with bringing the activities of the workshop to a wider audience. The workshop appears to have disbanded shortly after the release of the fourth and final issue of its journal ''Viscosity''. The journal is now infamous for having been selected by the [[K Foundation]] to announce their 23-year ban on all artistic practices.

British cultural commentator and activist, Stewart Home became a champion of their unrestrained adventurism, including excerpts from the journal and an alluring taste of the type of works undertaken. These were present in a series of edited collections published by Serpent's Tail.

"The Joker, the incidentalIncidental gameGame of urbanUrban pokerPoker", was printed in "Mind Invaders". It describes a game of poker played between cities from playing cards found in the street. "St. Andrews Arena" appeared in the collection "[[Suspect Device]]". It narrates one particular derive that took place in [[Glasgow]] in 1993. Other references to the workshop's activities have appeared in articles by Home, notably in the journal ''Variant''.<ref>Home, Stewart. "[https://articles.bplans.com/theres-no-success-like-failure/ There's no success like failure]", ''Variant'', Volume 2 Number 1 (Winter 1996), p18 Home, Stewart. "Mondo Mythopoesis", ''Variant'', Volume 2 Number 2 (Spring 1997), p7]</ref>

==History==

{{More citations needed section|date=March 2021}}

During its 2-year 'Psychogeographical Survey of Glasgow' (1992–1994), the group concentrated on refining the interplay between the [[Lettrism|Letterist]] (and later [[Situationist International|Situationist]]) techniques of derived and constructed situations. The outcome, described in the essay "Programmed and constructedConstructed driftingDrifting; the eventEvent architecturesArchitectures of [[Unitary urbanism#:~:text=Unitary urbanism (UU) was the,International between 1953 and 1960.|Unitary Urbanism]]" (''Viscosity'' No.3 Glasgow, Jan 1994), highlighted the false separation between these two classic Situationist tools and their indivisibility in practice. The techniques were initially borrowed from the constrained writing techniques of the [[Oulipo]], where the pure flow of an otherwise unbounded ''[[dérive]]'' is directed in its apparent randomness (and given an element of control over its protagonists) by applying [[parameter]]s. The behavioral [[algorithm]]s employed by WNLA range from elaborate "drifting machines" that are carried across the terrain and deployed at regular intervals to generate recursive instructions for movement (non-linear feedback loops), to the simple "anywhere" hitchhiking sign, a regular sight in the summer of 1993 being held aloft on the westbound pavement of the bridge on The M8's Great Western Road.

Artist [[Ralph Rumney]] (1934–2002) is credited with bringing the workshop's activities to a wider audience. He was acquainted with many of the original Parisian Letterists and participated in one of the group's ''dérives'' in London in 1995. It was assumed that WNLA had disbanded shortly after releasing the fourth and final issue of its journal ''Viscosity'' (now infamous for being selected by the K Foundation to announce its 23-year moratorium on all artistic practice). However, the journal suggests that the moratorium applied to the K Foundation and WNLA itself, with the group committing to stop mediating their activities entirely until 2018.