London Psychogeographical Association
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The London Psychogeographical Association (LPA) is a largely fictitious organisation devoted to psychogeography. The LPA is perhaps best understood in the context of psychogeographical praxis.
London Psychogeographical Insitute
The LPA was first named in 1957 by the British artist Ralph Rumney, as one of the organisers of the "First Exhibition of Psychogeography" in Brussels, which included his work.[1] According to many accounts the group (which was also referred to as the London Psychogeographical Insitute or Society, and may or may not have involved other people besides Rumney) eventually merged into the Situationist International.[2]
See also the French Wikipedia article Comité psychogéographique de Londres
LPA East London Section
In the 1990s, the LPA was reinvoked as the LPA East London Section by Fabian Tompsett, using the pseudonym Richard Essex, who published a series of newsletters and pamphlets under its name, as well as the writers grouped around the multiple user name Luther Blissett, including Stewart Home. Activities of the ELS also included trips to destinations of psychogeographical interest and the organisation of Three sided football matches.
This version of the LPA has been described by the writer Iain Sinclair, whose work is often described as psychogeographical, as useful in "branding" that kind of practice.[3][4]
In 1994 Barry Hugill wrote an article for The Observer covering the LPA. He depicted thier ideas as "so cranky that to mention Mr Ackroyd's name in the same breath is to invite a writ." However he also states that " the psychogeographers fear that in 2000 there may be an attempt to perpetuate patriarchy through the ritual murder of a top member of royalty". The death of Princess Diana in 1997 is stil under investigation with many prominent people suggesting it was murder.
The work of Luther Blissett, Stewart Home and other psychogeographical groups is said to involve the issuing of numerous leaflets and letters under a series of aliases, both personal and organisational, and the description of interactions, including collaborations and feuds, between both these and other, real people and groups (for example between Luther Blissett and the parapolitical researcher Larry O'Hara).[5]
Some may feel that this makes the 'actual' nature and history of the LPA and other elements of Home's universe very difficult to establish, a situation exacerbated by the contributions to his work of collaborators and fans. Some Home-related entries on Wikipedia appear at times to have been edited towards this general end.
Others will counter that the LPA is itself an open experiment in hypertext/graphics, meta-writing and Communism, of which the Wikipedia project forms an integral part.
However, despite the disputes of existence and non-existence, the last LPA Newsletter was issued around the year 2000.
See also
