Attila Kotányi (; 1924 – 18 October 2003) was a poet, philosopher,

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

-urbanist. In his early years in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, Attila Kotányi belonged to the Budapest Dialogical School an intellectual circle of philosopher Lajos Szabó (with whom he maintained a philosophical conversation for 20 years) and

Béla Hamvas Béla Hamvas (23 March 1897 – 7 November 1968) was a Hungary, Hungarian writer, philosopher, and social critic. He was the first thinker to introduce the Traditionalist School of René Guénon to Hungary. Biography Béla Hamvas was born on ...

. In 1956, after the failed Hungarian revolution, he emigrated with his family to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

where he continued studying and eventually graduated in

urbanism Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, a profession focusing on the design and management of urban ...

. In 1960 he became a member of the

Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

(SI). His contributions to the SI's journal include ''Gangland and Philosophy'' (1960), ''Basic Program of the Bureau of Unitary Urbanism'' (1961) co-authored with

Raoul Vaneigem Raoul Vaneigem (; ; ; born 21 March 1934) is a Belgian writer known for his 1967 book ''The Revolution of Everyday Life''. Biography Vaneigem was born in Lessines (in Hainaut Province, Hainaut, Belgium) and studied romance philology at the Fre ...

, and ''Theses on the Paris Commune'' (1962) co-authored with

Guy Debord Guy-Ernest Debord (; ; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, critic of work, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situat ...

and Raoul Vaneigem. He was excluded from the SI in December 1963. Later he moved to Düsseldorf, Germany, where he taught for 12 years at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. Beyond poetry and philosophical conversations he also painted and did smaller architectural works. In the 1990s he returned to Budapest where he pursued the last active period of his life, gathering a steady circle of young intellectuals in his Saturday afternoon conversations where he was elaborating on his Sabbath-theory, the radical suspension of activity. He died in Düsseldorf due to complications of a stroke.

References

External links

* Attila Kotányi Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University {{DEFAULTSORT:Kotanyi, Attila 1924 births 2003 deaths Situationists Academic staff of Kunstakademie Düsseldorf Hungarian emigrants to Belgium