Learning by Doing at the Farm: Craft, Science, and Counterculture in Modern California

Literary Nonfiction. Cultural Studies. Art, Architecture & Urban Planning. California Interest. Beginning in 1968, the University of California, Irvine, was host to an experiment in intercultural exchange and artistic and social scientific learning through practice. Located on the edges of William P [...]
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Literary Nonfiction. Cultural Studies. Art, Architecture & Urban Planning. California Interest. Beginning in 1968, the University of California, Irvine, was host to an experiment in intercultural exchange and artistic and social scientific learning through practice. Located on the edges of William Pereira's California Brutalist campus, the Farm was a space for craftspeople from Guatemala, Mexico, and Samoa to demonstrate their skills; a laboratory for new methods in education and research; and an unexpected countercultural gathering site. LEARNING BY DOING AT THE FARM reflects upon this unusual experiment, which brought together Cold War politics, modern development, and indigenous peoples drawn into the strange intellectual and cultural circumstances of 1960s California. Through a critical introduction and previously unpublished archival documentation, this book offers a glimpse of various actors dreams of what the Farm could become and the collaborations that actually unfolded there. About the editors: Robert Kett's research centers on artistic and scientific knowledge-making in Mexico and the United States. His current project connects histories of archaeology, oil geology, biological sciences, and Pan-American art in twentieth-century southern Mexico to consider their collective role in the constitution of natural/cultural resources and the region itself. Kett is a doctoral candidate in anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. Anna Kryczka's research focuses on the criticism and display of mid-century American art, design, media, material culture, and architecture. Her current project examines how Cold War taste cultures shaped and were shaped by sixties discourse around domesticity, expertise, and national belonging. Kryczka holds an MA in art history, theory, and criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is a doctoral candidate in visual studies at the University of California, Irvine.