JSMA Inflatable Design Contest

A page from Ant Farm's Inflatocookbook

Taking inspiration from the experimental architecture collective Ant Farm, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is hosting Eugene's first Incredible Inflato-contest! Founded in San Francisco in 1968, Ant Farm created inflatable environments at numerous happenings, schools, conferences, and festivals, notably the Rolling Stones' free concert at Altamont. Traveling the country throughout the 1970s, Ant Farm distributed their Inflatocookbook, teaching architectural skills ad hoc to democratize the institution of architecture.(1) 

The Schnitzer Museum is encouraging AIA-SWO architects and associates to create teams and explore the joyful possibilities of inflatable environments. The museum will display the finalists' inflatables in a storefront location downtown for the occasion of the March First Friday Artwalk.

You can find full contest instructions at http://jsma.uoregon.edu/inflatocontest. Submissions to the contest are due just a few days from now on February 1. The museum’s jury will then select four finalist teams to construct their inflatable for the First Friday Artwalk on March 1. Submission posters will be on display in the museum's lecture hall during the opening of the exhibition West of Center: Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America, 1965-1977. Direct any questions you have about the contest to exhibition coordinator Jessi DiTillio at ditillio@uoregon.edu or (541) 346-0980.  

(1)   I remember being fascinated by the work of Ant Farm back during their ‘70s heyday. For some reason though, I had it in my mind more recently that Ant Farm’s founders—Chip Lord and Doug Michels—were east-coasters rather than from San Francisco. I think I may have been confusing them with the Jersey Devil design/build firm founded in 1972 by Steve Badanes, John Ringel, and John Adamson.