The Philco Predicta, 1958

My rendering of the Philco Predicta, a television made in several cabinet models in a 17” or 21” screen by the American company, Philco, from... more

by Walter Neal

Title

The Philco Predicta, 1958

Artist

Walter Neal

Medium

Digital Art

Description

My rendering of the Philco Predicta, a television made in several cabinet models in a 17” or 21” screen by the American company, Philco, from 1958-1960. The Predicta was marketed as the world's first swivel screen television. It was Initially introduced in 1958 for the Holiday Inn hotel chain and rolled out for general consumers shortly thereafter, the Predicta was discontinued in the early 1960s. In my rendering, a test pattern is shown on its screen, emblazoned with Dr. Timothy O'Leary's famous words: "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out!", a counterculture-era phrase popularized by Dr. Timothy Leary in 1966.

In 1967, Dr. O'Leary spoke at the Human Be-In, a gathering of 30,000 hippies in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco and phrased the famous words, "Turn on, tune in, drop out". It was a culmination of his work in the area of so-called 'psychedelic' drugs, such as LSD, as a means to 'expand' one's consciousness in the suffocating and stifling conformity of the 50s; hence the vintage 50s television set, through which his message is conveyed.

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September 8th, 2017

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