SUMMER OF LOVE - PSYCHEDELIC ART, SOCIAL CRISIS AND COUNTERCULLTURE IN THE 1960S

Psychedelia constitutes one of the most exciting but also neglected phenomena of twentieth-century art, culture and history, providing intense visual and psychological experiences in a wide range of different media. In an attempt to capture the ecstatic, psychedelic art recorded, replicated and promoted the expansion of consciousness and the deliberate orchestration of sensory overload, often with the help of hallucinogenic agents. The productive dialogue between psychedelic art and the political revolution and counterculture of the time found its expression in an extraordinary aesthetic that exemplifies social, political, racial, and sexual liberation.
Psychedelia was never simply a matter of style, and the essays in this collection offer an account of how psychedelic art and culture formed part of a particular historical moment of socio-political change and crisis. Contributors attend to various aspects of psychedelia’s originating environment, from the political context to the underground scene, taking in fashion, movies, music, happenings and drugs, and exploring some of the places where the Summer of Love flourished most vigorously. The book closes by considering psychedelia’s legacies, both artistic and socio-cultural.
This collection of essays is an important addition to the growing body of literature on the 1960s, highlighting a particular significant and exciting aspect of the period. It will be of interest to the general reader as well as students and scholars of the art and culture of the 1960s.