Manifestos and the Situationists
The group settled on its name in January 1958 and published its first manifesto that year. Co-signatories included Asger Jorn, a co-founder of the Cobra group, and Erwin Eisch.
In 1959 SPUR joined the Situationist International, a network of artists and theorists around Asger Jorn and Guy Debord. Its third conference met in Munich in April 1959, where SPUR handed out the leaflet "Ein kultureller Putsch" (A Cultural Putsch). In February 1962 the Situationists expelled the Munich group.
The magazine and the trial
Seven issues of the magazine SPUR appeared in 1960 and 1961. Issue 6, "Spur im Exil", was the only one printed in colour, in an edition of 1,500.
The magazine put Prem, Sturm, Zimmer and Dieter Kunzelmann in the dock, charged with blasphemy and distributing obscene publications. The court handed down prison terms of around five months. On appeal Sturm was acquitted, and the others' sentences were cut to five weeks, suspended. In 1975 the Federal Constitutional Court finally rejected their complaint.
From SPUR to GEFLECHT
In 1964 documenta III in Kassel showed work by Lothar Fischer and Heimrad Prem. Uwe Lausen painted in the group's circle from 1961 and wrote for issue 6.
In 1965 the SPUR artists joined forces with the Munich group WIR. The merger became Gruppe GEFLECHT.
SPUR and Cham
In Cham, Museum SPUR documents the group and its ties to the Upper Palatinate. It celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2016.
The Cordonhaus, Cham's municipal gallery, held a Heimrad Prem retrospective in 1984 and showed 42 years of Helmut Sturm's work in 1999. Brigitte Weiss worked there as a gallerist, and the founding collection grew out of that work.
