APRIL
BOOK CLUB
Friday, April 1, 7pm
THE TRIAL BY FRANZ KAFKA (1925)—Written in 1914 and published posthumously, The Trial is one of the masterpieces of the twentieth century. Josef K. is a respectable bank officer who is inexplicably arrested for a crime he didn’t commit and about which he can get no information. Albert Camus said of this nightmarish tale, “It states the problem of the absurd in its entirety.” The Book Club will be reading the highly praised translation by Breon Mitchell (Schocken, 1999). The Wolfsonian Book Club explores literary works whose subjects are relevant to current exhibitions and collection themes. To join or to RSVP: 305.535.2644 or lydia@thewolf.fiu.edu. Free for members.
PUBLIC TALK & BOOK SIGNING
Friday, April 8, 7pm
MARIAN BANTJES: I WONDER—Join us for a talk with designer, artist, and writer Marian Bantjes, as she discusses her new book I Wonder (2010). Bantjes’ art and design crosses boundaries of time, style and technology. Often hired to create custom type for magazines, advertising, and special projects, she is known for her detailed and lovingly precise vector art, obsessive hand work and patterning, and ornament. Co-presented with AIGA-Miami. Talk will be followed by reception and book signing in The Dynamo Museum Shop. RSVP required: http://tinyurl.com/wolfsonian-bantjes. For more information: 305.535.2644. Free to the public, priority seating given to Wolfsonian and AIGA-Miami members.
MEMBER EVENT
Thursday, April 14, 6pm
MEMBERS’ PREVIEW AND OPENING RECEPTION: ART FOR ALL: BRITISH POSTERS FOR TRANSPORT—Join exhibition curator Teri J. Edelstein for introductory remarks about the exhibition. Members’ preview follows. For membership information or to RSVP: 305.535.2631 or ian@thewolf.fiu.edu. Free for members and the FIU Community; $10 all others.
Art for All, an exhibition organized by The Yale Center for British Art, explores the evolution of transport posters in twentieth-century Britain, showcasing some of the world’s most recognizable images produced by the London Underground and the British Railways. On view through August 14, 2011.
PERFORMANCE
Saturday, April 16, 3pm
NEW MUSIC MIAMI ISCM FESTIVAL—The New Music Miami Festival presents new music for diverse instrumentations, bringing together innovative composers and thinkers along with adventurous performers and audiences. Featuring the FIU NODUS Ensemble, Amernet String Quartet, and guest composers. Co-presented with the FIU School of Music. For more information: 305.535.2649 or regina@thewolf.fiu.edu. Free.
SPECIAL EVENT
Friday, April 22, 7pm
‘HIC HAEC HOC’: ABERRANT LANGUAGE AND THE DESIGN OF EVERYDAYNESS—Following the regularly-scheduled 6pm gallery tour, Matthew Abess, curatorial research assistant at The Wolfsonian and Scott Cunningham, director of O, Miami Poetry Festival, will introduce the gallery installation Rewriting the World: Primers and Poetry in the Age of Confusion, and engage with the audience about matters of poetry, persuasion, and the language of everyday life. Wine reception to follow. Free.
BOOK SIGNING
Friday, April 29, 6pm
THE TROPICAL MODERN HOUSE—Designer and journalist Raul A. Barreneche will sign copies of his new book The Tropical Modern House (2011). The book offers a visual tour of some of the most ambitious examples of residential design, in some of the most breathtaking settings in the world: Hawaii, Brazil, Costa Rica, India, the Caribbean, and more. These luxurious homes, designed by the likes of Terence Riley, Luis Pons, Jaya Kader Zebede, Christian Liaigre, Wolfgang Ludes, and Isay Weinfeld, among many others, experiment with combining modern technology and exotic local materials. RSVP required: http://tinyurl.com/wolf-tropicalmodernhouse. For more information: 305.535.2644. Free.
MAY
SPECIAL EVENT
Sunday, May 1-31
MIAMI MUSEUM MONTH
During the month of May, all visitors and locals will be offered a “Buy One, Get One Free” admission at participating museums. For more information: www.miamimuseummonth.com.
BOOK CLUB
Friday, May 6, 7pm
HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES by Jacob A. Riis
(1890)—First published in 1890, Jacob Riis’s remarkable study of the horrendous living conditions of the poor in New York City had an immediate and extraordinary impact on society, inspiring reforms that affected the lives of millions of people. The Wolfsonian Book Club explores literary works whose subjects are relevant to current exhibitions and collection themes. To join or to RSVP: 305.535.2644 or lydia@thewolf.fiu.edu. Free for members.
SPECIAL EVENT
Saturday, May 7, 10:30am
DESIGNED FOR LEARNING—Do the buildings where learning takes place matter as much as the teachers in them? Can a “smartly” designed building improve students’ education? Join Jos Boys, PhD, senior research fellow in Learning Spaces at the University of Brighton, UK, and Anne P. Taylor, PhD, Hon. AIA, ACSA distinguished professor and regents professor in the School of Architecture and Planning, University of New Mexico, for a discussion addressing the relationships between learning and the spaces in which it takes place. Reception and book signing with Anne Taylor and Jos Boys to follow in The Dynamo Museum Shop. Co-presented with Architecture Club–AIA Miami. CEU credits available. Free.
PERFORMANCE
Friday, May 13, 7pm
SONGS FOR ALL—To celebrate the Art for All exhibition on view, Florida Grand Opera Young Arts will perform a range of British music from the 1920s to 1960s. Selections include works by Vaughn Williams, Benjamin Britten, Herbert Howells, and more. Join us for a guided tour of the exhibition at 6pm prior to the performance. Co-presented with the Florida Grand Opera. Free.
JUNE
BOOK CLUB
Friday, June 3, 7pm
SPIES OF THE BALKANS BY ALAN FURST (2010)—Set in Salonika, Greece in the 1940s, Spies of the Balkans centers around Costa Zannis, a senior police official who handles special “political” cases. As war approaches, the spies begin to circle, from the Turkish delegation to the German secret service. The Wolfsonian Book Club explores literary works whose subjects are relevant to current exhibitions and collection themes. To join or to RSVP: 305.535.2644 or lydia@thewolf.fiu.edu. Free for members.
DYNO’NITE
Friday, June 24, 7pm
POEMS FOR ALL—Join Jeff Donnelly and Nancy Wolcott for an evening of London-themed poems from the first half of the 20th Century. Attendees are invited to select a poem (not their own) for reading and discussion. Consider arriving early for the 6pm guided tour of the Art for All exhibition, the point of departure for the poetry selections. RSVP required: 305.535.2644 or lydia@thewolf.fiu.edu. Free.
ON VIEW
ART FOR ALL: BRITISH POSTERS FOR TRANSPORT
ON VIEW APRIL 15 THROUGH AUGUST 14, 2011
Organized by the Yale Center for British Art
In 1908 the London Underground began an aggressive campaign that became one of the most successful, adventurous, and best sustained branding operations ever attempted. This poster campaign not only encouraged ridership on the public transport system; it helped to foster a civic identity for the city of London. The more than 5,000 works produced include some of the greatest achievements of poster art. Art for All features outstanding posters executed for both the Underground and the British railways.
THE POLITICS OF RACE ON TRIAL
ON VIEW IN THE MUSEUM’S RARE BOOK AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS VESTIBULE THROUGH APRIL 17, 2011
Organized by Brian Orfall, a Miami-Dade County Public School teacher
and student in the FIU Department of History Master’s Degree Program
On March 25, 1931, a fight broke out between white and African-American youths “riding the rails” in search of work during the Great Depression. When the train pulled to a stop in Scottsboro, Alabama, nine “Negro” boys were pulled from the train and were nearly lynched after two white girls falsely accused them of rape. Within days, the “Scottsboro Boys” (as they came to be known) had been hastily tried and condemned to death. Eager to recruit Southern blacks into the Party, Communist organizers took up their defense. Through the International Labor Defense (ILD), the Party’s legal arm, the Communists secured the “Scottsboro Boys” a retrial, hiring New York’s finest criminal defense lawyer. Intending to expose the economic and racial injustice of the Capitalist system, the Communists did not confine their efforts to the Southern courts, but agitated and organized demonstrations across the globe to advocate for their innocence in the court of world opinion. The ILD fought their clients’ case all the way up to the Supreme Court and six years later secured the release of four of the nine defendants in 1937. The remaining “Scottsboro Boys,” however, languished in prison for many years more before death, pardon, or escape brought them freedom.
REWRITING THE WORLD: PRIMERS AND POETRY IN THE AGE OF CONFUSION
ON VIEW IN THE MUSEUM’S RARE BOOK AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS VESTIBULE APRIL 7 THROUGH JUNE 5, 2011
Drawing on the museum’s holdings of rare books from the early twentieth century, the selection of materials represents a range of attempts to define the contours of everyday life through renovations of language.
Whether a motorcar marketing booklet, a literacy manual for non-native speakers, or a poem comprised of innovative typography and non-sense sounds, these works emerged from certain social and political agendas. The exhibition surveys the ways in which such agendas are inscribed in the rudiments of language—set into speech and written into thought.
ART AND DESIGN IN THE MODERN AGE: SELECTIONS FROM THE WOLFSONIAN COLLECTION
ONGOING
The Wolfsonian–FIU holds an astounding collection of modern objects—both the rare and the overlooked—from the 1885 to 1945 era, demonstrating the active role design plays in motivating actions, expressing ideas, creating desires, and shaping identities. Exhibition themes underscore designers’ responses to new materials and technologies, the role of graphic design as an instrument of political and commercial persuasion, and the nature of state-sponsored public art and architecture programs.
About The Wolfsonian–Florida International University
The Wolfsonian is a museum, library, 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, historical, and technological changes that have transformed our world. The collections comprise approximately 120,000 objects from the period of 1885 to 1945—the height of the Industrial Revolution to the end of the Second World War—in a variety of media including furniture; industrial-design objects; works in glass, ceramics, and metal; rare books; periodicals; ephemera; works on paper; paintings; textiles; and medals.
The Wolfsonian is located at 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL. Admission discount in effect through April 14, 2011: $5 for adults; $3.50 for seniors, students, and children age 6 -12; and free for Wolfsonian members, State University System of Florida staff and students with ID, and children under six. The museum is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday from noon-6pm; Friday from noon-9pm; and is closed on Wednesday. Contact us at 305.531.1001 or visit us online at www.wolfsonian.org for further information.