Ken Kesey’s psychedelic bus “Furthur”, once used for a cross-country journey that became part of America’s 1960s counterculture, has returned to San Francisco after decades away.
asserted
that → use → decades
The bus is now the centrepiece of a new exhibition celebrating the legacy of the Grateful Dead and the city’s connection with the hippie movement.
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bus → celebrate → movement
The exhibition, “Forever Grateful/Golden Gate Park”, opened Saturday at the County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park.
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exhibition → open → Park
According to news agency Associated Press, along with Kesey’s bus, it features the BMW owned by Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia.
uncertain
it → accord → Garcia
The car remains in mint condition and has never been displayed publicly.
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car → remain → condition
The exhibition brings together historic memorabilia, interactive installations, performances, photographs and artwork connected to the Grateful Dead and the counterculture that developed in San Francisco during the 1960s.
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that → bring → 1960s
It also gives visitors a chance to experience some of the art and activities associated with that period.
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It → give → period
For the Haight Street Art Center, which organised the exhibition, the return of the bus is about more than displaying an old vehicle.
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return → organise → vehicle
Kelly Harris, the centre’s executive director, said the exhibition is meant to encourage people to connect through art, music and activism.
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exhibition → say → art
“This invites people to communicate and connect around art, music, and activism,” Harris said.
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Harris → invite → art
“In this day and age, when we need something to bridge community, we know that this space allows for that to happen and Furthur is the portal.
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Furthur → need → community
How Furthur became part of counterculture
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Furthur → become → counterculture
Kesey bought the school bus using money he earned from his novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”.
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he → buy → Nest
In 1964, he and his friends, known as the Merry Band of Pranksters, drove the bus across the United States.
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he → know → States
The journey was fuelled by marijuana and LSD and was intended to explore human consciousness through art, music and mind-altering drugs.
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journey → fuel → art
The bus was painted in bright, swirling colours and became a defining part of the group’s activities.
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bus → paint → activities
The trip later became widely known through Tom Wolfe’s 1968 book “The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test”, which documented Kesey and the Pranksters’ experiences.
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which → become → Kesey
Kesey had earlier been a student involved in government tests of mind-altering drugs.
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Kesey → involve → drugs
After returning to California, he began sharing his experiences at parties held at his home in the hills above Stanford University.
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he → return → University
Those gatherings became known as the “acid tests”.
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gatherings → know → tests
They combined music, art and psychedelic experiences and soon became closely linked to the emerging San Francisco counterculture.
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They → combine → counterculture
A local bar band called The Warlocks performed at the parties.
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band → call → parties
The group later became the Grateful Dead, which was formed in 1965 and went on to become closely associated with San Francisco’s hippie movement.
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which → become → movement
The band’s members lived in a cheap Victorian house in the city’s Haight neighbourhood.
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members → live → neighbourhood
They later became an important part of the 1967 Summer of Love.
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They → become → Love
The new exhibition is designed to give visitors more than a traditional display of historical objects.
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exhibition → design → objects
It will use performances and interactive installations to recreate parts of the counterculture experience.
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It → use → experience
Visitors will be invited to share their first encounter with the counterculture.
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Visitors → invite → counterculture
They can talk about becoming a Deadhead, the name given to Grateful Dead fans, during Garcia’s lifetime, discovering the band after his death or experiencing the group for the first time through the exhibition.
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They → talk → exhibition
Actors from Third Rail Projects, a New York-based experiential performance company, will guide visitors through part of the exhibition.
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Actors → base → exhibition
One section includes a dark tunnel filled with mirrors that leads to booths where visitors can begin conversations.
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visitors → include → conversations
Visitors will also experience a liquid light show, an art form associated with the 1960s.
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Visitors → experience → 1960s
It uses liquids of different densities in watch glasses and projects changing, colourful patterns around a room.
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It → use → room
Edward Rice, associate managing director at Third Rail Projects, said visitors may experience the exhibition with people they already know or with strangers.
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they → manage → strangers
“You might go with the people that you came with, or you might get packaged with a couple other folks that you didn’t know, and you’ll then unpack the experience with each other and have a conversation with a stranger that you wouldn’t have had otherwise
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you → go → that
,” Rice said.
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Rice → say → ?
Furthur to be restored
The exhibition also marks the beginning of an effort to restore the now-dilapidated Furthur bus.
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exhibition → restore → bus
The bus was kept at the Kesey family farm in Pleasant Hill, Oregon, after its years on the road.
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bus → keep → road
It was last seen in public at Woodstock in 1969.
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It → see → 1969
The bus got its name after a typo appeared on its destination sign.
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typo → get → sign
…and 7 more, not listed.
The Aporia
