Fourmi

1971 · 174988 — Sausalito California: Ant Farm Inc. 1971. Recipes for an alternative way of life First edition first printing one of only 2000 copies of Ant Farm's handmade architectural manual. The guide offers practical advice on building temporary inflatable structures alongside philosophical and conceptual statements on experimental architecture. Ant Farm was a San Francisco-based collective formed in 1968 by the architects Chip Lord and Doug Michels. They championed nomadic plastic architecture: space age inflatables made from as little as polyethylene tape and household fans. The Inflatocookbook includes "recipes" for various inflatable structures; detailed remarks on the importance of air supply; photographs of completed projects; psychedelic illustrations of imagined projects including the "World's Largest Snake"; and advertisements for Ant Farm DIY structures ranging from an affordable inflatable classroom for $75 to a giant custom vinyl pillow structure starting at $2000. The loose-leaf format allowed updates to be inserted during and after the publication process and there is inevitable variation between copies. In Ant Farm 1968-1978 2004 Caroline Maniaque describes the first edition as containing 22 sheets notably fewer than the present copy. While well-represented institutionally in the US this radical countercultural manual is rare in commerce and the present copy has more leaves than most copies in institutions. Quarto 290 x 233 mm. Illustrated in black and white 8 pp. in colour. Original transparent vinyl jacket with interior pockets containing 30 loose sheets comprised of title leaf 464 x 285 mm ink-stamped in blue and purple; front cover illustration loose as issued 242 x 191 mm; 18 leaves approx. 280 x 212 mm one printed on coated paper; 10 leaves approx. 464 x 285 mm one printed on green paper one printed on card. A few marks to vinyl top edge of title sheet rubbed and toned: a near-fine copy. unknown