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Promotional poster for the Exploding Plastic Inevitable in Chicago, June 21-26, 1966.

The Exploding Plastic Inevitable, sometimes simply called Plastic Inevitable or EPI, was a series of multimedia events organized by Andy Warhol between 1966 and 1967, featuring musical performances by The Velvet Underground & Nico, screenings of Warhol's films, and dancing and performances by regulars of Warhol's Factory, especially Mary Woronov and Gerard Malanga. Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable is also the title of a 18 minute film by Ronald Nameth with recordings from one week of performances of the shows which were filmed in Chicago in 1966. In December 1966 Warhol included a one-off underground magazine called The Plastic Exploding Inevitable as part of the Aspen Magazine No. 3 package.^[1]

The Exploding Plastic Inevitable had its roots in an event staged on January 13, 1966 at a dinner for the New York Society for Clinical Psychiatry. This event, called "Up-Tight", included performances by The Velvet Underground and Nico, along with Malanga and Edie Sedgwick as dancers.^[2]Inaugural shows were held at the Dom in New York City in April 1966, advertised in The Village Voice as follows: "The Silver Dream Factory Presents The Exploding Plastic Inevitable with Andy Warhol/The Velvet Underground/and Nico."^[3] Shows were also held in The Gymnasium in New York and in various cities throughout the United States.

1. ^ Aspen magazine, no. 3, "The Pop Art Issue", designed by Andy Warhol and David Dalton. Published December 1966 by Roaring Fork Press, New York City.
2. ^ Branden W. Joseph, "'My Mind Split Open': Andy Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable"; Grey Room 08, Summer 2002, pp. 80–107.
3. ^ Martin Torgoff, Can't Find My Way Home, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004 (ISBN 0-7432-3010-8).

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