LA GRANJA IBIZA
Farm Convivium: Ibiza, 60s, Counterculture
Dissatisfied with their lives at home or threatened, they were fleeing to the island in large numbers to shape an alternative lifestyle dedicated to expressive individualism.
When Prince Juan Carlos voiced his concern in terms "What have you done to my hippies?" addressing it to Ibiza mayor, it signaled the end of the "flower power" era.
Considering the island's long history, the hippie period of Ibiza is probably one of the most remarkable in modern times. Artists, beatniks, naturalists, experimentalists, sannyasins, political dropouts, draft dodgers, soul seekers, queers, freaks, vagabonds, outlaws, and others counter-cultural elements in various combinations... Dissatisfied with their lives at home or threatened, they were fleeing to the island in large numbers to shape an alternative lifestyle dedicated to expressive individualism which – balanced, mutually respected, appreciated and reinforced – would be the foundation for their community. Indeed, their movement was growing at a rate of roughly 100,000 persons per annum dovetailing into the demography of the period from 1930s until early 60's, when life on the island was already quite a bohemian affair. An isolated backwater and hassle-free environment, Ibiza was enjoyed by international writers, painters, musicians, intellectuals and other free minds.
When Prince Juan Carlos voiced his concern in terms "What have you done to my hippies?" addressing it to Ibiza mayor*, it signaled the end of the flower power era. In the mid 70's and on for a decade or so, els peluts, the "hairy ones", were still there and being themselves – sharing a simple communal life surrounded by nature, beauty and love, with more and more of their ilk descending on the Balearic island, – but the cultural paradigm of Ibiza began to shift straying from its bohemian roots toward celebration of extravagance and embrace of celebrity and pop culture. Since then the alternative sites, practices and subjects have been gradually reshaped and incorporated with regimes of leisure capital to become a "hippie scene", spectacle of the underground, theme park of resistance, a tourist attraction generating yet more tourism.
But traces of real hippie days still remain among the locals. They may be your relatives, friends, or neighbors… We want to hear their stories! Farm Convivium is a series of periodic and very informal gatherings around the Farmer's Table with invitations extended to special guests – artists, thinkers, innovators, activists, other farmers, community leaders… It's the old-school hippies we want to meet at some point. Please get us in touch and yourself feel free to join us for dinner and to dwell in wondrous recollections of the days bygone.
* Quoted in Global Nomads: Techno and New Age as Transnational Countercultures, book by Anthony D'Andrea. Routledge, 2007
But traces of real hippie days still remain among the locals. They may be your relatives, friends, or neighbors… We want to hear their stories! Farm Convivium is a series of periodic and very informal gatherings around the Farmer's Table with invitations extended to special guests – artists, thinkers, innovators, activists, other farmers, community leaders… It's the old-school hippies we want to meet at some point. Please get us in touch and yourself feel free to join us for dinner and to dwell in wondrous recollections of the days bygone.
* Quoted in Global Nomads: Techno and New Age as Transnational Countercultures, book by Anthony D'Andrea. Routledge, 2007
