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October 2005 THE WOLFSONIAN’S DYNAMO MUSEUM SHOP AND CAFÉ OPENS THIS FALL, REFLECTING THE UNIQUE CHARACTER AND COLLECTION OF THE MUSEUM
Iconic Designs and Industrial Objects Guide the Look of New Social Gathering Space in the Heart of South Beach
Opening November 11, 2005, The Dynamo Brings Brains to This Year’s Holiday Shopping and Kicks Off a Year of Events Marking The Wolfsonian’s 10th Anniversary
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The entire design of the new space is guided by and infused with the mission of The Wolfsonian. The focal point of the shop and café will be a large library shelving system from the late nineteenth century, donated by Samson Management, designed by Bernard R. Green, and crafted of iron by the Snead & Company Iron Works. The design represents the first modular book-stacking system ever created; similar systems can be found at the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress and the Vatican Library. Functional, historical and artistic, the system will educate the visitor with its notable presence, its use as a design tool and through the diverse books that will be on display. The Dynamo will now features an expanded selection of architectural and design titles, as well as biographies and historical fiction relating to the collection's period of 1885 to 1945, as well as a special section devoted to banned books. "The Wolfsonian plays an important part in the life of the city through our exhibitions and educational programs drawing on the museum’s uniquely focused collection. With the opening of our café and museum shop, we are excited to engage visitors in new, informal, social, appealing and delicious - but equally thoughtful - ways,” explains Cathy Leff, The Wolfsonian's director. "The Dynamo offers a combination of captivating design, programs and carefully selected merchandise, ranging from the playful and quirky to the refined and rare, which will serve to enrich the area, the museum and the visitor for years to come.” Entering The Dynamo, visitors will pass through a corridor featuring a Bipolar Dynamo, one of Thomas Edison’s electrical generators, before entering a café setting embellished with fixtures from the late nineteenth century to the forward-thinking design of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The chairs are replica of the Classic Vienna Café Chair designed by Michael Thonet’s sons ca. 1876 and still produced today by the company. A large mosaic mural, donated by Bisazza, recreates an image from A New York in 6 1/2 Giorni [To New York in 6 1/2 Days; 1932), a poster from the collection by designer Giuseppe Patrone, along one wall of the shop. The stylish poster is reflected in multiple forums throughout the café, most particularly the tile table tops, which feature assorted details of the poster’s imagery. Even the floor constructed of black terrazzo and mother-of-pearl, designed and donated by Wolfsonian member and artist Michele Oka Doner, complements the distinctive interior flooring. Hampton was the architect for the building's renovation from a five-story; one-time storage facility to a seven-story, state-of-the-art museum and educational facility. The café will seat approximately 40 people and will be an additional site for the museum’s public programming. A 60-inch plasma screen will feature films, simulcast programs from the auditorium and broadcast unexpected instances of propaganda. Monthly meetings of The Wolf Book Club and The Wolf Pack, the museum’s young professional membership organization, as well as readings and talks, will also be held in the café. Two large windows will open directly onto Washington Avenue, giving the museum a welcome street presence, particularly on Thursdays and Fridays, when The Dynamo, along with the museum, remain opens late.
The café operator and in-house caterer is Lyon & Lyon, a full-service catering company that services corporate and cultural institutions. Known for their commitment to a diverse and creative culinary repertoire, they have designed the Dynamo menu to reflect the international focus of the collection and a period sensibility that blends sophistication with casual dining.
In addition to private donations, key public support was provided by State Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, whose dedication to the project resulted in a $321,000 Economic Development Initiative grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as the City of Miami Beach, which made a $176,000 grant to the museum.
Books and Merchandise The Dynamo will feature a wide range of products and books that draw on the museum’s collection for inspiration, and cater to the interests and tastes of the visitor. Along with a line of Wolfsonian merchandise, The Dynamo will feature hard-to-find design products such as home décor accessories from the design studios Alessi and Vitra, and creative children’s toys from Melissa & Doug. The shop will be a destination for shoppers looking for something out of the ordinary, parents looking to spark their children’s imagination and gift-givers trying to find something truly unique. The shop can also create corporate packages and prepare special orders for large quantities as well. The book selection will also make The Dynamo a resource for all audiences—from those with an interest in stylish things to those seeking rare books on design, political propaganda, censorship, and the history of the Modern era. A special focus of the bookstore will be a section devoted to literature that has at some time been banned, for a wide range of political, religious, or philosophical reasons. This list includes infamous cases such as Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, Nabokov’s Lolita, and philosophical works by thinkers disparate as Marx, Rousseau, Whitman and Paine. Some targets are obvious—works of erotic passion by the Marquis de Sade and of racial tension such as Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin—while others are more surprising—religious texts including the Bible and the Quran, and young adult novels by Judy Blume. A wide-ranging look at the breadth of writing that has been deemed unsuitable for mass consumption not only gives visitors a great reading list of classic and important works, but also allows a chance for them to reflect on censorship, its role in all kinds of societies, and what the banning of a specific book, at a specific time and place tells us about that moment. Much of The Wolfsonian’s collection invites the audience to reflect on how design speaks about the context of its making. Similarly, the institutional control of books and printed materials has been an important key to understanding the prevailing values of a culture since the printing press was invented. November 11–13, 2005, the Wolfsonian will kick off its 10th anniversary celebration with A Very Wolfsonian Weekend, marking the museum’s collection growth, dynamic exhibitions and educational programs, research and scholarly publications and service to the community since it opened in 1995. The festivities for the museum’s fourth annual weekend, sponsored this year by JPMorgan, will begin with the official opening and dedication of The Dynamo at 11am on November 11 at the museum. A black-tie gala at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables will follow that evening. On Saturday there will be an opening reception for In Pursuit of Pleasure: Schultze & Weaver and the American Hotel, an exhibition exploring the American hotel, and, closing the weekend on Sunday, will be a community open house with access to the exhibition and The Dynamo for all audiences.
About The Wolfsonian–Florida International University The Wolfsonian is a museum and research center that uses objects to illustrate the persuasive power of art and design, to explore what it means to be modern, and to tell the story of social, political and technological changes that have transformed the world. The 100,000 artifacts that comprise the Wolfsonian’s collections range from fine art, graphic design and political propaganda to furniture, rare books and ephemeral materials such as postcards and travel brochures. The Wolfsonian is located at 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, Fla. Admission is $7 adults; $5 seniors, students, and children six-12; free for Wolfsonian members, State University System of Florida staff and students with ID, children under six, and Miami Beach residents with ID. The museum is open Monday, Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday from noon-6pm; Thursday and Friday from noon-9pm; and is closed on Wednesday. Contact us at 305.531.1001 or visit us online at www.wolfsonian.org.
The Wolfsonian
receives ongoing support from the State of Florida; Department of
State; Division of Cultural Affairs; Florida Arts Council;
Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs through the
Cultural Affairs Council; the Mayor and the Miami-Dade County Board
of County Commissioners; the Mayor and City Commission of the City
of Miami Beach and the Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council; Crispin
Porter + Bogusky; Dacra and the Miami Design District; Continental
Airlines, the preferred airline of The Wolfsonian; the Arthur F. and
Alice E. Adams Foundation; Artécity, for inspired condo living;
Carnival Foundation; and RBK Productions. |
