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Thursday, May 26, 2022,
6pm - 8pm

The MAH

FREE for members

Browse over 100 vintage screen-printed posters, photos, films, and texts related to the Hunter S. Thompson's Battle of Aspen. Explore how artists, beatniks and other concerned citizens creatively fought against gentrification, oppression, war, and environmental destruction in the elections of 1969.

Freak Power tells the story of Thompson's plan to become sheriff, take control of Aspen and transform it from a conservative mining town into a mecca for artists, rebels and activists. Through original print material from the campaign, photographs and political art, Freak Power chronicles a little known period in Hunter S Thompson's life, a period when he wrote prolifically about politics, the environment, drugs, and American values. As the conservatives and Thompson led liberals battled it out, the campaign became fraught with violence, accusations and moments of absurdity that bordered on fiction. As weird a tale as Thompson ever wrote, his own forays into politics may have been his wittiest and wisest escapade of all.

This free event will feature special guests including exhibition curator Daniel Joseph Watkins along with former Aspen Sheriff Bob Braudis.

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