A wonderful artefact of the age of experimental hippy architecture. Ant Farm prototyped temporary and inflatable structures, and during their lifetime published this how to guide for anybody who was interested and inclined. From the preface of the later 1973 edition: "The INFLATOCOOKBOOK was first published in Jan. 1971 by Ant Farm. It was our attempt to gather information and skills learned in process and present it in an easily accessible format. That INFLATOCOOKBOOK came loose leaf in a vinyl binder that we fabricated in our warehouse in Sausalito. The first printing was 2000 copies. The experiences that qualified us as ' Inflato-experts' occurred over an 18 month period in which we designed. built, and erected inflatables for a variety of clients and situations. Charley Tilford showed Ant Farm how to make fast, cheap inflatagles out of polyethylene and tape and support them with used fans from Goodwill. That was in the fall of 1969. The first one built was the largest, a 100'xl00' white pillow that was built for the ill fated Wild West Festival in San Francisco, then after being turned down for Stewart Brand's Liferaft Earth Event, finally had its day at Altamont. There followed a year in which we built numerous demo-inflatables at schools, conferences, festivals and gatherings around the state of California and beyond. ANT FARM at that time was: Andy Shapiro, Kelly Gloger, Fred Unterseher, Hudson Marquez, Chip Lord, Doug Hurr, Michael Wright, Curtis Schreier, Joe Hall, and Doug Michels. The INFLATOCOOKBOOK was written, designed, and put together by: Chip Lord, Curtis Schreier, Andy Shapiro, Hudson Marquez, Doug Hurr, Doug Michels with help from: Sylvia Oreyfus, Charley Tilford, and Sotiti Kitrilakis." Sits very well alongside the works of Archigram, Superstudio, Archizoom and Gruppo 9999 but with a west coast utopianism and DIY principles more often found in the Whole Earth/Dome building movement.
