THE WOLFSONIAN TO OFFER EVENTS AND ARTISTIC INTERVENTIONS DURING ART BASEL AND DESIGN.05

• Design Talks Series Featuring Zaha Hadid, Murray Moss, and many more
• Open House for Art Basel Guests
• Inflatable Villa Project by Architect Luis Pons
• Conservatorium Project by César Trasobares for the Bridge Tender’s House
• Book Signing for Humble Masterpieces: Everyday Marvels of Design with Paola Antonelli

 

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MIAMI BEACH, FL–The Wolfsonian–Florida International University, a unique design museum located in the heart of South Beach, will co-present a series of panel discussions and conversations featuring distinguished figures from the world of architecture and design. Coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach,the Design Talks are a collaboration between the museum and design.05 Miami, an invitational event featuring the world’s most significant postwar and contemporary furniture galleries. Speakers will include Pritzker Architecture Prize-winner Zaha Hadid, as well as Murray Moss, Barbara Bloemink (Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution) and Wolfsonian founder, Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. The panel discussions will take place Friday, December 2–Sunday, December 4 and are sponsored by Bombay Sapphire.

The museum will host a VIP reception and open house, sponsored by Bombay Sapphire, for Art Basel pass holders and invited guests. From 8–11pm on Friday, December 2 visitors will be able to view The Wolfsonian’s permanent collection as well as the recently opened In Pursuit of Pleasure: Schultze & Weaver and the American Hotel, an exhibition exploring the design legacy of luxury hotels from the Jazz Age through mid-century. Throughout the weekend, The Wolfsonian-sponsored artist project, The Fabulous Floating Inflatable Villa, by architect Luis Pons, will be on view to the public as an outdoor installation. The Villa’s exploration of art, design, and architecture as forces that interpret and affect the world also exemplify and promote the mission of The Wolfsonian and its collection. Meanwhile, artist Cesar Trasobares will display Conservatorium, a site-specific project at The Wolfsonian’s Bridge Tender’s House combining the building’s form and many-sided form glass windows with works made from dollar bills. In addition, a book signing and Q&A session will take place with Paola Antonelli, curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, on her new book Humble Masterpieces: Everyday Marvels of Design.

design.05 Miami will run from Thursday, December 1 through Monday, December 5 in the Moore Building in the Miami Design District. The Inflatable Villa will be located at AQUA, 250 West 63rd Street from November 30—December 4. Conservatorium will be on display at Bridge Tender’s House at The Wolfsonian, 1001 Washington Avenue, until March 2006. Paola Antonell’s book signing will take place Thursday, December 1 from 5-7pm at The Dynamo at 1001 Washington Avenue.

Thursday, December 1, 2005
Book Signing and Q&A with Paola Antonelli-Thursday, December 1, 2005, 5-7pm
The Dynamo, The Wolfsonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach
Humble Masterpieces: Everyday Marvels of Design is a collection of 100 ordinary objects that are extraordinarily designed. Created by Paola Antonelli, curator of Architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, this book stems from a 2004 exhibition of the same title and brings together objects familiar to all of us.

Antonelli emphasizes the simple fact that great design is all around us in some of the everyday objects we use, from Post-It notes to Band-Aids. If they work well, notes the author, chances are we do not pay them much attention. But although modest in size and price, some of these objects are true masterpieces of the art of design and deserving of our admiration. Antonelli shows how the lipstick tube becomes a modern marvel, and the brown paper bag a work of genius. Published by Regan Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, the book is available for sale for $22 at The Dynamo.

Humble Masterpieces is a guide to the everyday odds and ends that represent the ultimate in form and function. Each object’s history and design is explained in short, insightful text, and is illustrated in clear, bold color photographs.

Friday, December 2, 2005
Crashing the Party: DesignArt - Friday, December 2, 8pm
Moderated by Murray Moss, founder and co-owner, Moss (NYC) and Moss Gallery (MIA)
The Theater at Moss Gallery, Buick Building, 1st floor, 3841 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami

What separates “Design” from “Art”? Are they, in fact, separate and distinct? As design galleries attract more art collectors and modern art galleries begin to exhibit design, is contemporary design accepted as collectible art on par with the traditional fine arts? What does it say about the market for design today that design.05 Miami has been established concurrent with Art Basel Miami Beach and yet, what does it say that these works of design are presented separately from Art Basel Miami Beach? These questions and others will be posed to renowned designer Gaetano Pesce, well-known collector; Wolfsonian founder Mitchell “Micky” Wolfson, Jr., Sotheby’s director of twentieth-century design James Zemaitis and the Phillip Johnson Chief Curator for Architecture and Design for the Museum of Modern Art, Terry Riley.

Since opening their Soho store in 1994, Murray Moss and partner Franklin Getchell have continuously pushed the design envelope, establishing Moss as one of the most groundbreaking forces in the world of design today. Moss has focused on exploring the shifting, evolving dialogue between “art” and “design” through exhibitions and guest lectures, and has received a number of design awards over the years.

Saturday, December 3, 2005
Design in Multi-Colors - Saturday, December 3, 8pm
Moderated by Barbara Bloemink, curatorial director of Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum
The Theater at Moss Gallery, Buick Building, 1st floor, 3841 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami

The widespread and customized use of color is one of the most visible trends in contemporary design. New shades are appearing on a wide range of consumer goods, from cars and appliances to food and fashion. Color is the fastest way to dramatically change appearances, yet it rarely receives the attention we give to other design elements beyond each season's assigned "color." This panel will explore color from various aspects of contemporary design. Panelists will include well-known designers and color experts such as National Design Award recipient Yves Behar, Mary Murphy, Vice-president Design for Maharam, and Gert Hildebrand, head of design for MINI Cooper.

Barbara Bloemink has lectured widely, served on many international panels and organized over 80 museum exhibitions. Her first exhibition at Cooper-Hewitt, “Design ≠ Art: Functional Objects from Donald Judd to Rachel Whiteread” was the first American museum exhibition to include virtually unknown design work by many of the most significant artists of the last 50 years.

Sunday, December 4, 2005
Zaha Hadid in conversation with Craig Robins - Sunday, December 4, 6pm
The Moore Building, 191 NE 40th Street, Miami

Zaha Hadid is one of the most sought after international architects today. The Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, which was hailed by The New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp as “the most important American building to be completed since the end of the cold war.” It is currently the only built work by Hadid in the United States. design.05 Miami is proud to present a rare opportunity to hear its inaugural “Designer of the Year” speak about the unique site-specific installation she created exclusively for design.05 Miami. Craig Robins, whose generous support of design.05 Miami has made Zaha Hadid’s installation possible, will lead the discussion with “the prodigiously gifted architect” beneath her dramatic sculptural installation.

Craig Robins is president of Dacra, an innovative real estate development company that merges urban design, architecture and art to build and revitalize communities. Dacra’s current projects include the expansion of the Miami Design District, South Florida’s hub for creativity, art and design; and AQUA, a new urbanist-inspired community. Robins is also the founder of the Anaphiel Foundation, which is dedicated to supporting arts education, exploration, and expression in all its forms. Robins is vice-Chairman of The Wolfsonian-FIU, a member of the trustee committee for architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, and serves on the Board of Trustees of both the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., and the Miami Art Museum.

Ongoing Events
The Fabulous Floating Inflatable Villa
Architect Luis Pons, inspired by the energy of Art Basel and the design aesthetic of Miami Beach, created The Fabulous Floating Inflatable Villa as a site-specific work for the 2005 Art Basel fair. A blow-up interpretation of the classical-style villas that have been a prominent aspect of Miami’s real-estate boom, the piece playfully pokes at the ideas of ownership, respectability, and desire that are at work in much of the area’s architecture. However, it also points to more serious concerns, such as the inflated nature of real estate speculation, architectural egos and misappropriations, and the environmental impact of over-building. Floating on the water’s surface near Allison Island, the Villa occupies no land, is nearly weightless and easily mass produced.
Sponsored by Inflatable Concepts, Dacra/Miami and The Wolfsonian-FIU, the piece will be documented by Miami photographers Morris Moreno and Vicenta Casañ. A limited-edition portfolio containing 12 signed photographs will be exhibited and sold during the week of Art Basel.

Conservatorium, 2005
A site-specific project by Cesar Trasobares
Commissioned by The Wolfsonian-FIU for its historic 1939 Art Moderne-style Bridge Tender's House, located at the corner of 10th and Washington, the project fuses the building’s form and large glass windows with works made from dollar bills. The interior of the space will be set up as a working greenhouse with live and manufactured trees, as well as tools and other objects. Trasobares will be working inside the space occasionally and will produce works-in-progress with changing components. Many of the tree sculptures allude to the proverbial money tree, anchoring a series of smaller works, including Money Tree Rings and sculptures. Manufactured plants decorated with lights will be connected to timers and photo cells. The live plants will be watered regularly and will be lit at night.

Trasobares broadly defines his practice as an artist: in the art world, he serves as art activist, curator, educator and performer; in the studio, he produces series in various media; in the institutional field, he works in education and art administration. Addressing multi-cultural audiences, he has often focused on the social territories that welcome the involvement of creative individuals, continuing to do whatever he can to bring dignity and recognition to the status and roles of artists in society. A group of money tree finger rings will be on sale at The Dynamo, the museum’s shop, with part of the proceeds being donated to Miami-Dade County’s Adopt-A-Tree program. Ongoing documentation and information about the project is available at http://www.cesartrasobares.com.

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, Florida. Admission is $7 adults; $5 seniors, students, and children 6 -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.