On the evening of May 2, something shifted. More than 140 people gathered at the Berkeley Alembic for the opening of MDMA, From Molecule to Movement, and for the first time, materials from the Shulgin archives left storage and entered a room full of people who wanted to see them.
Visitors lingered at the display cases. They studied the artifacts from Sasha’s lab bench, the notebooks, the documents tracing MDMA’s long path from synthesis to therapeutic practice. Executive Director Megan Bowers noticed people genuinely absorbed in the chemistry and the history.
“I was most struck by how many people, including many young and some old, showed up for chemistry and history. People were genuinely fascinated by the items in the cases, the gallery installation, and the art and film produced by Hanif and Domini. The whole situation was so inspiring, that it has opened up a new avenue for how we will be delivering classes in the next couple of years.”
– Executive Director, Megan Bowers
That fascination extended to the work of Bay Area artists Hanif Wondir and Domini Anne, whose large-format mural art lined the walls alongside a short film produced by the Foundation. When the film played for the first time during the event, heads turned. Board Chair Wendy Tucker, David Presti, Maria Mangini, and others who knew Sasha and Ann personally stood watching. The film had been made to capture who they were, not just what they did. Seeing it land that way, with the people who loved them, was both humbling and gratifying.
“It was inspiring to see so many people attend the event. I could tell people were really, really impressed with the quality of the exhibition, and enjoyed the items that were there from the Archives. The art and the video were outstanding and people were also very impressed by those. It was a great atmosphere, a lot of great conversations, the community coming together once again around the Shulgins.”
– Board Chair, Wendy Tucker
For the Foundation, the exhibit represents more than a single event. It was made possible by a 2025 grant from the Psychedelics in Society and Culture Fellowship Program at the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics, and it marks the first step toward integrating the Shulgin archives into the UC Berkeley library system, fulfilling what Ann and Sasha always hoped for: that these materials would be properly cared for and accessible to future researchers.
From left to right: Wendy Tucker, Maria Mangini, and Megan Bowers
The exhibition continues through May at the Berkeley Alembic during opening hours. On Sunday, May 17, from 1 to 4 p.m., the Foundation will host a special archival retrospective, The Psychedelic History of the Shulgins: An Archival Retrospective, offering another opportunity to experience the installation together.
Some things need to be seen to be understood. That’s what May 2 reminded us.