Workshop for Non-Linear Architecture

The Workshop for Non-linear Architecture (wnla) was the name taken by a group of experimental artists and psychogeographers active in Britain (sections existed in both Glasgow and London) during the early 1990's. Informed to a large degree by the urban practices of the Paris based Lettriste Internationale (1952-57), the workshop focused its practise on developing the lettriste 'Theory of the Derive' through physical analysis and active intervention. The activities of the workshop are known primarily through the irregularly produced journal 'viscocity', four issues of which were printed and clandestinely circulated between 1992 and 1996. Little is known about the individuals who participated in the group as anonymity was a prerequiste for membership. The artist Ralph Rumney (1934-2002), who had known many of the original Parisian lettrists, participated in one of the groups derives in London in 1995 and is credited with bringing the activities of the workshop to a wider audience. The group appears to have disbanded after the release of the final issue of Viscocity, now infamous as having been selected by the K Foundation to announce their 23 year moratorium on all artistic practise.

British cultural commentator and activist Stewart Home became a champion of their ludic adventurism, including excerpts from the journal (and a tantalising taste of the type of works undertaken) in a series of edited collections published by Serpents Tail. "The Joker, the incidental game of urban poker", was printed in 'Mind Invaders' (Serpents tail, UK - 1996) and describes a game of poker played between cities from playing cards found in the street. "St Andrews Arena" appeared in the collection 'Suspect Device' (Serpents tail, UK - 1997) and 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.

The situationist online website (www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline) also contains many of the original translations undertaken by wnla of the lettriste bulletin 'Potlatch'.