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Omnia sunt communia! Support Minor Compositions / Purchasing Books The PDF you are reading is an electronic version of a physical book that can be purchased through booksellers (including online stores), through the normal book supply channels, or Minor Compositions directly. Please support this open access publication by requesting that your university or local library purchase a physical printed copy of this book, or by purchasing a copy yourself. If you have any questions please contact the publisher: [email protected]. KASPER OPSTRUP THE WAY OUT INVISIBLE INSURRECTIONS AND RADICAL IMAGINARIES IN THE UK UNDERGROUND 1961-1991 The Way Out: Invisible Insurrections and Radical Imaginaries in the UK Underground 1961-91 Kasper Opstrup ISBN: 978-1-57027-328-5 Cover painting: Sudarshana Chakra by Ferdinand Ahm Krag (2016). Photo credit: Kristoffer Juel Poulsen. Cover & interior concepts by Jesse Jacob / jukas.dk Interior layout by Margaret Killjoy Released by Minor Compositions 2017 Wivenhoe / New York / Port Watson Minor Compositions is a series of interventions & provocations drawing from autonomous politics, avant-garde aesthetics, and the revolutions of everyday life. Minor Compositions is an imprint of Autonomedia minorcompositions.info | [email protected] Distributed by Autonomedia PO Box 568 Williamsburgh Station Brooklyn, NY 11211 www.autonomedia.org [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS x I. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Apocalyptic Futures of the Past 2 1.2. From Beyond 13 1.3. The Constraint of Souls 19 II. THE SIGMA PROJECT 2.1. On the Ecstatic Edge 36 2.2. First Connective Points: Beat, Situationism and the 1960s 41 2.3. Sigma – A Potted History 53 2.4. The Invisible Insurrection 63 III. THE ANTI-UNIVERSITY OF LONDON 3.1. Society as a Madhouse 76 3.2. The Anti-University 87 IV. THE POLITICS OF EXPERIENCE 4.1. Beyond Art and Politics 98 4.2. Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way 105 4.3. Who Owns You? 115 V: ACADEMY 23 5.1. ‘Curse, Go Back!’ 122 5.2. Academy 23 136 5.3. Wild Boys Always Shine 144 VI: THEE TEMPLE OV PSYCHICK YOUTH 6.1. Our Aim is Wakefulness, Our Enemy is Dreamless Sleep 152 6.2. The Frequency of Truth 173 6.3. The Wastelands of the Real vs the Kingdoms of the Occult 178 6.4. When Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted 183 VII: INVISIBLE INSURRECTIONS AND RADICAL IMAGINARIES 7.1. A Sinister Dream Factory 190 7.2. Across the Great Divide 199 VIII: AFTERWORD 8.1. Conclusions 206 ENDNOTES 210 LIST OF WORKS CITED 224 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was produced in order to obtain the PhD-degree at the London Consortium, Birkbeck, University of London. It was largely written in the period from 2009 – 2012. The following is with only minor alterations identical to the original thesis. With special thanks to Barry Curtis, Esther Leslie, Stewart Home, Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen, Fabian Tompsett, John Eden, Joe Berke, Mark Pilkington, Tania Ørum, Jakob Jakobsen, Peter Davis, Matthew Levi Stevens, Maitreyi Maheshwari, Kathleen Pullum, Oisín Wall, Stevphen Shukaitis, and Leo Zausen. Dedicated to Aggi & Edgar. - x - - x -