Wed, May 15, 2019
6–7:30 pm
(free and open to the public)
In this talk Berlin-based artist, writer and archivist Scott Holmquist presents chronic freedom, the lead volume in a series of five artist books that portray a macroscopic history of the back-to-land and marijuana culture in Southern Humboldt County, California, from the late 1960s to 2010. As part of Holmquist’s ongoing inquiries into the ephemerality and impermanence of digital information, the 1000 pages of this 19-x-13 inch codex assemble and organize a vast collection of materials from reproductions of local media, national news, and private journals, to books, newsletters, photographs, scripts, personal letters, and even objects like bullets, a used smuggler's turkey bag, and hand-annotated grocery bag. Together, they give a comprehensive, albeit specific, portrait of the Northern California hippie-grower culture and community. Much of this media is microscopic: readable only using a magnifying glass. Impressionistic writings by Holmquist run alongside a history of hippie life chronicled by an original settler named Douglas Fir. Adding to these multi-layered perspectives from generations of growers, this monumental archive has commentary written in the margins by visitors to the artist’s Eureka studio during the multi-year making of the book.
At the CRB, Holmquist walks visitors through the subtexts and backstories related to key moments in and making of chronic freedom.
