De New Babylon Informatief. No. 1 (July 1965) through No. 4 (1966) (all published)

Various: 1965-1966. 52.5 x 35 cm. Original printed self-wrappers; first three issues are a single page, fourth is a special eight-page issue. Very good to fine condition. A rare complete set in four issues of the journal published in conjunction with four different exhibitions by Constant Nieuwenhuys, known as Constant (1920-2005). Constant was a Dutch painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and musician. He was affiliated with the avant-garde movement CoBrA and with the Situationist International before beginning what he called his "New Babylon" project.

The New Babylon project lasted from 1956 to 1974, and was characterized by Constant's shift to focus primarily on architecture and the urban environment. He envisioned a "world wide city for the future" with collectively-owned land and automated labor leading to more freedom for creativity. This project consisted of models, spacial constructions, maquettes, collages, drawings, and text which all worked together to convey Constant's theories. The project came to an end with a large exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in 1974.

These four issues correspond to various New Babylon exhibitions held from 1965 to 1966, during the height of Constant's project.

Issue no. 1 was edited by a large editorial team including Harrie Bartels, Felix Van der Beek, Ger Brouwer, Hans Van Drumpt, Kees Graaf, Leen Kriens, Harry Marks, Geert Meyer, Lei Molin, Libert Ramaekers, Rob Stultiens, Ad Visser, and Piet Wouters. It was published in July 1965 by Stichting Artishock for the New Babylon exhibition at the Dominikanerkerk in Maastricht.

Issue nos. 2 and 3 were edited by Constant's son, Viktor Nieuwenhuys,and published by Anarchitectura. Issue no. 2 dates from October 1965, for a retrospective at the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, while no. 3 dates from January 1966 and was for two exhibitions "Bilder und Plastiken" held at Galerie Rudolf Zwirner and "New Babylon" at Volkshochschule, both in Cologne, Germany.

Issue no. 4 was edited by R.W.D. Oxenaar, G.J.A. ten Holte, H.J.A.M. van Haaren, and D. Welling, and was published on the occasion of Constant's exhibition at the Dutch Pavilion at the XXIIIa Venice Biennalie in 1966. It was published by A. Spin & Zoon. This issue features 8 pp. of text and images, including a two-page spread of a color-printed map.

Scarce; as of February 2023 OCLC locates four holdings in North American libraries, not all of which are complete.