Psychedelic Art, Music, and Cinema: A Historical Journey
The evolution of psychedelic culture is explored from the 1960s into the 1970s, beginning with Pink Floyd's 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' (1967) and Ken Kesey's connection to the CIA's MK-Ultra at Menlo Park Hospital, which inspired the Merry Pranksters and Acid Tests. Significant contributions include the Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' (1967), Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968), Dennis Hopper's 'Easy Rider' (1969), and Michelangelo Antonioni's 'Zabriskie Point' (1970). Notable visual art features the Big Five from the California Summer of Love, alongside works by Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton. The psychedelic movement's downturn is signified by the Re Nudo festival in Milan (1976).
Key facts
- Pink Floyd's first album 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' was released in 1967 with Syd Barrett.
- Ken Kesey participated in CIA's MK-Ultra experiments at Menlo Park Hospital in 1960.
- The Merry Pranksters, led by Kesey, distributed LSD-laced orange juice in Acid Tests.
- The Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper' (1967) features an infinite groove at the end of the vinyl.
- Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' was released in 1968.
- The Big Five of California psychedelic art include Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, Wes Wilson, and Victor Moscoso.
- The Dream Machine was invented by William Burroughs and Brion Gysin in 1960.
- The Re Nudo festival at Parco Lambro, Milan, in 1976 marked the end of psychedelia in Italy.
Entities
Artists
- Syd Barrett
- Ken Kesey
- Neal Cassady
- Tom Wolfe
- Jack Kerouac
- Milos Forman
- Jack Nicholson
- Peter Blake
- Rick Griffin
- Stanley Mouse
- Alton Kelley
- Wes Wilson
- Victor Moscoso
- Robert Crumb
- Gilbert Shelton
- Ron Herron
- Klaus Voormann
- Lee Conklin
- William Burroughs
- Brion Gysin
- Heinz Edelmann
- Milton Glaser
- Yayoi Kusama
- Bridget Riley
- Martin Sharp
- Federico Fellini
- Dino Buzzati
- Carmelo Bene
- Mario Schifano
- Maurizio Vandelli
- Claudio Rocchi
- Ettore Sottsass
- Fernanda Pivano
- Max Capa
- Matteo Guarnaccia
- Andrea Valcarenghi
- Stefano Piantini
- Baruch Spinoza
- André Breton
- Plotinus
- William Blake
- Helena Blavatsky
- Giordano Bruno
- Aleister Crowley
- Dionysus
- Georges Gurdjieff
- Francis of Assisi
- Max Ernst
- Marcel Duchamp
- Gustave Doré
- Wilhelm Reich
- H.P. Lovecraft
- Hans R. Giger
- William B. Yeats
- Albert Hofmann
- Heinz Guderian
- Hermann Göring
- Oscar Wilde
Institutions
- Pink Floyd
- CIA
- Menlo Park Hospital
- Merry Pranksters
- Beatles
- Jefferson Airplane
- Donovan
- Grateful Dead
- Troggs
- Who
- Cream
- Equipe 84
- Apple Corps
- Archigram
- Hipgnosis
- The Fool
- Hapshash and the Coloured Coat
- Fillmore
- Re Nudo
- Puzz
- Insekten Sekte
- Pianeta Fresco
- Artribune
- Electa SpA
- Arnoldo Mondadori Arte
- Touring Club Italiano
- Bocconi University
- Adelphi
- Bompiani
- Hoepli
- Shake
- Mondadori
Locations
- Menlo Park
- Bay Area
- San Francisco
- La Honda
- New York
- Haight-Ashbury
- Sausalito
- Los Angeles
- London
- Amsterdam
- Ibiza
- Formentera
- Cinecittà
- Rome
- Milan
- Parco Lambro
- Italy
- California
- Switzerland
- Japan
- Germany