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In 1957, a merging between the Letterist International and COBRA art groups took place. The result was the Situationist International, a group that sought to redefine revolutionary theory. The group was a kind of global critique of capitalism, and they were very much influenced by Marxist theory. Though small, group membership included artists from numerous different countries, with Guy Debord emerging as the dominant member. They were active mostly in France, but had meetings held in …

…themselves in 1972, assenting that they had gone as far as they could in the world of art. Though group membership never exceeded twenty people, Situationist International emerged as one of the most important art groups of the twentieth century. They formulated a number of significant concepts, including détournement, dérive, unitary urbanism, and decomposition. Despite not successfully destroying capitalism, their theories remain an important contribution to artists and theorists today.