The Whole Earth: California and the Disappearance of the Outside

In the year 1966, a young man named Stewart Brand handed out buttons in San Francisco reading: 'Why haven t we seen
a photograph of the whole Earth yet?'
Two years later, the NASA photograph of the 'blue planet' appeared on the cover
of the Whole Earth Catalog. In creating the catalog, frequently described as the analog forerunner of Google, Brand had founded one of the most influential publications of recent decades. It mediated between cyberneticists and hippies, nature romantics and technology geeks, psychedelia and computer culture, and thus triggered
defining impulses for the environmentalist movement and the rise of digital network culture.

The exhibition 'The Whole Earth' is an essay composed of cultural-historical materials and artistic positions that critically address the rise of the image of One Earth and the ecological paradigm associated with it. The accompanying publication includes image-rich visual essays that explore key themes: 'Universalism, Whole Systems, Boundless Interior,' and 'Apocalypse, Babylon, Simulation,' among others. These are surrounded by critical essays that shed light on the 1960s California counterculture and the network culture that emerged from it. With contributions by Sabeth Buchmann, Mercedes Bunz, Diedrich Diederichsen, Kodwo Eshun, Anselm Franke, Erich Hörl, Norman M. Klein, Maurizio Lazzarato, Flora Lysen, Eva Meyer, John Palmesino, Laurence Rickels, Bernd M. Scherer and Fred Turner.