Columbia’s Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library recently acquired the personal papers of Chip Lord, an architect and multimedia artist best known for his work with the San Francisco avant-garde collective Ant Farm.
Founded in 1968 by Lord and Doug Michels, Ant Farm specialized in provocative installations and constructions inspired by mass media and consumer culture, including Cadillac Ranch, a row of half-buried cars outside Amarillo, Texas (pictured above), and House of the Century, a futuristic home south of Houston that resembles a spaceship. The duo disbanded in 1978 after a fire destroyed their studio, but Lord continued to work on a solo basis and eventually joined the faculty of University of California, Santa Cruz.
Columbia’s new acquisition adds to the existing Lord archives at Avery Library, which deal specifically with the artist’s Ant Farm oeuvre. Now visitors interested in Lord’s work will have expanded access to his ideas and creative process.
