CALIFORNIA: DESIGNING FREEDOM

MAKE WHAT YOU WANT

Perhaps no place has done more to democratize access to industrial technology than California. This section features tools that have made ‘making’ easier and more accessible, from the Whole Earth Catalog, the counterculture’s bible of self-sufficiency, to the Apple Macintosh and the open-source tools of the ‘maker’ culture. Exhibits include an original Apple 1 computer, IDEO’s voting booth for Los Angeles County and a home kit for genetic engineering.

The Apple Macintosh personal computer, 1984

Susan Kare, 'Sketches for a Graphic User Interface Icon', 1982

Xerox Star workstation, 1981

Susan Kare, 'Happy Mac', 1982

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From 1960s counterculture to Silicon Valley’s tech revolution, see how California has changed your life.