vis0800-bowen

8:00 PM

Michael Bowen

Beat Artist,
Human Be-In Organizer

words by Sarah Coleman

"The psychedelic baby eats the cybernetic monster!" It was a battle cry of the '67 Be-In, Michael Bowen tells me. We're sitting in the office at Be-In 9 central, some dozen notebook computers, Macs, scanners and a few miles of cables in the room behind us. It was different in 1967 when Beat artist Bowen organized the Human Be-In along with friends Allen Cohen and Tim Leary. "Personally I never felt anti cyber culture, but there was a feeling that it had to be controlled... that we could all become robots. Also, there were computer-driven experiments on animals that we were concerned about. The Be-In was the culmination of ten years of psychedelic revolutionary preparation, with the emphasis on personal freedom."

Freedom is the link. As cyber culture explodes, we need to resist corporations and the government, says Bowen. Other than that, he says, "there's a lot of 60s bullshit that has to be removed. The whole hippie commune idea was destined to fail. A good commune is what's happening today on the 'net. It's not a question of how many people can use one bathroom."

And then there's drugs. "Drugs are not a good weapon any more in the fight," says Bowen - other than marijuana. He gets passionate about the craziness of suppressing cannabis when tobacco is freely available and obviously poisonous. His most recent artwork is "Marlboro Nazi", which includes a frame made of collectors' card images of Hitler from 1930s German cigarette packs. "Six million and one hundred million more" reads the message under Marlboro dude's silhouette.

"This is a nice party," says Bowen (though he asks me several times where the food is - I wish I knew). He adds though that it's a small thing when compared with shakings in the computer industry at large. "Understand what personal freedom is and stay free." The psychedelic baby might be an adult now, but it's still got its work cut out.