Provo
In 1965 a small band of Amsterdam anarchists, the Provos, who attacked the middle-class smugness and authoritarianism of Dutch society, sprang into national prominence when they protested the marriage of Crown Princess Beatrix to Claus von Amsberg, a German nobleman who had been in Hitler's SS when he was a teenager. Coincidentally, Robert Jasper Grootveld, a far-out performance artist (or "happener") had been conducting Klaas demonstrations (after Santa Claus or Sinterklaas) on the streets at midnight, for over a year. Grootveld was protesting the police crackdown on marihuana usage. Klaas became Claus, fusing the two movements, political and absurdist, in 1966, launching a movement whose momentum served to revolutionize Dutch society almost overnight. (Source)
Publications[edit]
- Provokatie [Provocation] pamphlet series, 18 issues, Amsterdam, Jun 1965-Aug 1966. #1 Goed dat er politie is... [Good That There Is Police...], 21 Jun 1965; #2 Claus Von Amsberg, Persona Non Grata, 25 Jun 1965; #3 Wie van de 3 is de grootste democraat? [Which of the Three is the Biggest Democrat?], 1 Jul 1965, [1]; #4 Persvrijheid? PROVO in beslag genomen! [Press Freedom?], 15 Jul 1965; #5 Provo's Fietsenlan [Provo's Bicycle Plan], 25 Jul 1965; #6 Stille omgang [Silent Procession], 13 Aug 1965; #7 Troonrede [Queen's Speech], 20 Sep 1965; #8 Oproep aan het internationale provotariaat [Call to the International Provo Community], 13 Oct 1965; #9, 8 Dec 1965; #10 Kanker [Cancer], 20 Jan 1966; #11 Gemeentelijke Geneeskundige Gezondheidsdienst [City Health Service], 25 Jan 1966; #12 Manifest aan het Amsterdamse Provotariaat. Absentie-Happening [Manifesto to the Amsterdam Provotariat], 26 Mar 1966; #13 Geen politiestaat [No Police State], 31 Mar 1966; #14 Make a Love-War, 8 Apr 1966; #15, 8 Apr 1966; #16 Boodschap aan het Amsterdamse Provotariaat [Message to the Amsterdam Provotariat], 5 May 1966; #17 Provo's voor rechter (Provo's Brought to Justice], 28 May 1966; #18, 20 Aug 1966.
- Provo monthly, 15+1 issues, Amsterdam, Jul 1965-May 1967. [2] New Babylon feature in Provo 4.
- Image: Witte Pers zondagsblad magazine, 8 issues, ed. Witte Pers, Amsterdam, Jul-Sep 1966. "Sunday magazine". [3]
- God, Nederland en Oranje cartoon magazine, 10 issues, Amsterdam, Sep 1966-Mar 1968. [4] [5] [6]
Affiliated magazines: De Wekker (bericht aan de ingeslapenen) in Arnhem [7], Desperado in Rotterdam [8], Lynx (voor provocerend denken) in Maastricht [9], Scandal in Groningen [10], Volte in Utrecht [11], etc.
Exhibitions[edit]
- section on Provo in Netherlandic Treasures exhibition at the University of Michigan Special Collections Library, c2003.
- Two or Three Things I Know About Provo, installed by Experimental Jetset at W139, Amsterdam, 2011; and at Brno Biennale, Brno, 2012.
Archives, libraries[edit]
- Provo Archive in International Institute of Social History (IISH), Amsterdam. [=format%3A%22Visual+documents%22 Section with visual documents]. Archive inventory (PDF).
- Provo documents in Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
- Provo images, includes Provo magazines, pamphlets, posters & varia.
Literature[edit]
- Jacques Dalny, "Les «provos» n'ont rien inventé. Derrière les jeunes gens en colère d'Amsterdam on trouve une Internationale occulte", Le Figaro littéraire 1059, 4 Aug 1966, pp 1 & 3. (French)
- Anarchy 66, vol. 6, no. 8, London, Aug 1966. Special issue on the Provo movement. (English)
- Duco van Weerlee, Hvad er Provo, Copenhagen, 1966. (Danish)
- Roel van Duyn, Provo. Einleitung ins provozierende Denken, Berlin, 1966. (German)
- Aad de Jongh, Provo. Een jaar Provo-activiteiten, Rotterdam: Kerco, 1966. [12] (Dutch)
- Delta: A Review of Arts Life and Thought in the Netherlands 10(3): "Provo-Movement", ed. L. van der Land, Delta International, Autumn 1967. Special issue of the magazine. (English)
- Het slechtste uit Provo. Een bloemlezing uit alle verschenen nummers van het tijdschrift Provo [The Worst of Provo: an Anthology from all the Published Issues of the Magazine Provo], ed. & intro. Roel van Duyn, Amsterdam: De Bezige Bij, 1967, 257 pp. [13] (Dutch)
- Roel van Duyn, Het witte gevaar : een vademekum voor provoos, Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1967, 215+16 pp. (Dutch)
- "Révolte et récupération en Hollande", Internationale Situationniste 11, Paris, Oct 1967, pp 65-66. (French)
- "Revolt and Recuperation in Holland", trans. Reuben Keehan, Not Bored!, n.d. (English)
- Margret Kosel, GammlerBeatniks Provos. Die schleichende Revolution, Frankfurt am Main, 1967. (German)
- Hans Tuynman, Ich bin ein Provo. Das permanente Happening, Darmstadt, 1967. (German)
- Paolo Romano Andreoli, Provo, Rome, 1967. (Italian)
- Aimée Racine, Christian Vassart, Provos et provotariat. Un an de recherche participante en milieu provo, Brussels, 1968. (French)
- Paul Jorion, Quelques considérations relatives au phénomène «provo». Amsterdam 1965-1967, Amsterdam and Brussels: Mémoire de maîtrise, 1968-69. (French)
- Konrad Boehmer, Ton Regtien, Van Provo naar Oranje Vrijstaat, Nijmegen: SUN, and Amsterdam: SUA, 1970, HTML. (Dutch)
- Danièle Madrid, "Le mouvement provo en Belgique", Interrogations. Revue internationale de recherche anarchiste, 12 Oct 1977, pp 31-48. (French)
- Yves Frémion, Provo: la tornade blanche, Brussels, 1982. (English)
- Roel van Duyn, Provo. De geschiedenis van de provotarische beweging 1965-1967, Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1985, 247 pp, HTML. (Dutch)
- Gramschap 45/46: "De Revolutie van de jaren '60: PROVO IMAGE", Aug 1985. Special double-issue of the magazine. (Dutch)
- Yves Frémion, "Les Provos 1965-1967", in Mai 68. Les mouvements étudiants en France et dans le monde, eds. Geneviève Dreyfus-Armand and Laurent Gervereau, Nanterre, 1988, pp 48-52. (French)
- Stewart Home, "Dutch Provos, Kommune 1, Motherfuckers, Yippies and White Panthers", ch 12 in Home, The Assault on Culture: Utopian Currents from Lettrisme to Class War, London: Aporia Press and Unpopular Books, 1988; 2nd ed., AK Press, 1991. (English)
- Teun Voeten, "Dutch Provos", High Times, Jan 1990, pp 32-36 & 64-66 & 73. (English)
- Tjebbe van Tijen, "Les Provos", ed. Geneviève Dreyfus-Armand, in Les années 68: événements, cultures politiques et modes de vie. Lettre d'information, IHTP, 14 Jul 1996. Lecture transcript. (French)
- Niek Pas, Imaazje! De verbeelding van Provo 1965-1967, Amsterdam: Wereldbibliotheek, 2003, 463 pp. PhD dissertation. (Dutch)
- Richard Kempton, Provos: Amsterdam's Anarchist Revolt, 2003; new ed., New York: Autonomedia, 2007, 192 pp. [14] [15]. Review: Sissenich (J Study Radicalism). (English)
- Nicolas Pas, "Images d'une révolte ludique. Le mouvement néerlandais Provo en France dans les années soixante", Revue Historique 2, 2005, pp 343-373. (French)
- Marga van Mechelen, in De Appel: performances, installaties, video, projecten 1975-83, Amsterdam: De Appel Foundation, 2006. [16]. (Dutch)
- De Appel: Performances, Installations, Video, Projects, 1975-83, trans. Michael Gibbs, Amsterdam: De Appel Foundation, 2006, pp 21-22. [17] (English)
- Niek Pas, "Mediatization of the Provos: From a Local Movement to a European Phenomenon", ch 10 in Between Prague Spring and French May: Opposition and Revolt in Europe, 1960-1980, eds. Martin Klimke, Jacco Pekelder and Joachim Scharloth, New York: Berghahn, 2011, pp 157-176. (English)
- Magdaléna Kobzová, "Provo", ch 9.4 in Taktické média ako miesta konvergencie, Prague: FAMU, 2013, pp 85-87. Section in PhD dissertation. [18] (Slovak)
- Niek Pas, Provo! Mediafenomeen 1965-1967, Wereldbibliotheek, 2015, 256 pp. Excerpt. [19] [20] [21]. Review: Duivenvoorden (BMGN). (Dutch)
- Alan Smart, "Rules for Breaking In", ARPA Journal 4, May 2016. (English)
See also[edit]
Links[edit]
- Chronology (Dutch)
- Provo on Wikipedia