December 2012 Wolfsonian Awarded $5 Million - Wolfsonian-FIU

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December 2012
In this issue
Wolfsonian Awarded $5 Million Grant
from Knight Foundation
Describing Labor On View
Introducing Pan Pan Café
Art Basel Events
Exploring the Intersection of Art and
Technology
Esther Shalev-Gerz
Describing Labor – Grinding Metal Castings, 2012
Color Photograph
39 3/8 x 51 1/8 in (100 X 130 cm)
Commissioned by The Wolfsonian–Florida International University, Miami Beach,
Florida, 2012
Courtesy of the artist
Jeff Flemings Donates Display Cards
Shop Here for the Holidays!
AND SO MUCH MORE TO THINK
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Wolfsonian Awarded $5 Million
Grant from Knight Foundation
The Wolfsonian was recently awarded a $5 million
grant from the John S. and James L. Knight
Foundation. This is the largest grant the museum has
received to date and it comes at a pivotal time, as The
Wolfsonian is now building on the solid foundation of
its first seventeen years and formulating its future
Program information: 305.535.2644
Membership information: 305.535.2631
ADMISSION
$7 adults; $5 seniors, students, and children 6-12; free for
Wolfsonian members, State University System of Florida staff
and students with ID, and children under 6.
CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
Describing Labor
Untitled ([construction of good])
Postcards of the Weiner Werkstatte: Selections from the
Leonard A. Lauder Collection
Politics on Paper: Election Posters and Ephemera from The
Wolfsonian–FIU Collection
Back to Work: FDR and Labor's New Deal
Art and Design in the Modern Age: Selections from The
Wolfsonian Collection
Material and Meaning: Earthenware, Stoneware, and Porcelain
from The Wolfsonian–FIU Collection
ABOUT THE WOLFSONIAN
The Wolfsonian–Florida International University 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. It
encourages people to see the world in new ways, and to learn
from the past as they shape the present and influence the future.
ambitions as an institution. The Knight grant is in
support of programs that will engage the community
and provide greater access to the museum’s collection,
especially by enhancing online offerings and reach. The
Wolfsonian is one of seven maturing arts institutions in
the region to be awarded a major grant from the
foundation, which in early December announced $23
million in awards to support the arts in South Florida.
“I am honored to be a part of this institution at this
exciting moment, as the museum is poised to move
into its next phase of development,” says Neil
Flanzraich, chairman of the museum’s Advisory Board.
“The Knight Foundation grant will drive the important
work we are doing to fulfill our vision of providing
enhanced access both physically and digitally to our
collection in ways that will permit people in Miami and
around the world to truly engage with our museum of
art and design in the service of ideas.”
The Knight Foundation grant will be awarded over a
five-year period, beginning in July 2013. During that
time, The Wolfsonian plans to make a large portion of
its collection accessible online. The collection, with
more than 100,000 decorative arts objects, sculptures,
paintings, prints, drawings, posters, rare books and
periodicals, and ephemera, will generate hundreds of
thousands of images and records. This broad access is
expected to inspire creation, content generation,
sharing, and dissemination among interest groups in
an online environment that will be user-centered and
user-animated. The Wolfsonian has begun the process
of digitizing and making the collection accessible—the
museum’s digital images catalogue launched recently
and images are continually being added—to date, there
are approximately 46,000 images representing 16,000
objects.
“This is a very exciting moment for us. We are thrilled
and honored to receive the Knight Foundation grant,
which will provide critical support in helping us realize
our ambitions,” says Cathy Leff, The Wolfsonian’s
director. “We are a museum with incredible assets, and
we are committed to making it possible for people to
explore our collection even if they are not here
physically. During the next several years, we will be
exploring new terrain in the online world. Our intention
is to become one of the world’s most important online
resources of visual and material culture.”
This is the second major grant The Wolfsonian has
received from the Knight Foundation. In 2009, the
museum was awarded a Knight Arts Challenge Grant of
$500,000 in support of The Art of Illumination:
Illuminating the Arts, a digital technology and lighting
project that is currently underway. Scheduled to launch
during 2013, The Art of Illumination will showcase
images, text, and video on the building’s exterior,
effectively creating an intriguing new exhibition space.
Describing Labor On View
“These images of workers moved me, they engaged me.
We see so many images today, but the image of the
worker is not among them. We live in a world where we
don’t know the faces of the people who create the things
that surround us. It’s not wrong or right, it’s a fact,” says
Esther Shalev-Gerz, the artist behind the exhibition
Describing Labor, which opened at The Wolfsonian on
November 29 and is on view through April 7.
Installation Views
Describing Labor
Photos: Lynton Gardiner
Describing Labor was commissioned by The Wolfsonian
and grew out of Shalev-Gerz’s investigation into the
museum’s collection. The Paris-based artist,
internationally recognized for projects that address the
most pressing challenges of collective memory, political
identity, and historical space, conceived Describing Labor
during a 2011 residency at the museum. She was struck
by the depictions of work and working figures in the
museum’s fine art holdings. Once an icon of class
consciousness and national character—widely portrayed in
the period of the Russian Revolution, the Great
Depression, and the two World Wars—the worker has
since “fallen out of favor as a subject for the arts,”
Shalev-Gerz explains.
With this absence as her starting point, the artist
proceeded to develop the project through a participatory
process. After selecting forty-one historic artworks that
depict working figures, she invited twenty-four people who
have a mastery of the language around art each to choose
one and describe it while being filmed. Each participant in
turn then displaced the chosen artwork among other
objects in the museum’s storage annex, where it was
photographed.
Describing Labor comprises twenty-four large format color
photographs, a two-channel HD video installation, a
selection of historic artworks, and an audio installation in
the elevator of recorded “voices” derived from the
artworks and their era. A grouping of twenty-one glass
sculptures of hammers and gloves designed by ShalevGerz and fabricated by glass artists at the Toledo Museum
of Art’s Glass Pavilion is displayed on a metal sheet and
faces the salon-style hanging of the historic pieces. The
exhibition also includes original music created in response
to the historic objects by The Knights, a New York–based
orchestra.
“This work made me focus on questions such as ‘What is
art?’ and ‘How do we connect with art?’ and ‘What is
describing?’ says Shalev-Gerz. “The viewers are invited
into the exhibition and encouraged to make connections.
With most of my work, the viewer asks questions and with
each question the work grows.”
Matthew Abess, assistant curator at The Wolfsonian and
curator of the exhibition, worked closely with Shalev-Gerz
on the project. “Esther’s work gives image to these
otherwise invisible figures so that we might arrive at a
new knowledge of the human endeavor that gives shape
to our daily realities,” he says. “Rather than glorify historic
representations and rather than fetishize the figure of the
worker, the project carries us into a living image—the
picturing of creation and of our own place within it.”
Describing Labor is accompanied by a publication edited
by Abess and Marianne Lamonaca, special exhibitions
curator at the Bard Graduate Center and former associate
director for curatorial affairs and education at The
Wolfsonian. The publication, designed by Wolfsonian art
director Mylinh Trieu Nguyen, includes color images of
Shalev-Gerz’s new work, essays by Jacques Rancière and
Lamonaca, and an interview with the artist conducted by
Abess.
Describing Labor is made possible by Gary L. Wasserman.
The Wolfsonian gratefully acknowledges Martin Z.
Margulies and Mitchell Wolfson, Jr. for their loans to the
exhibition. Additional support received from the Adam
Sender Charitable Trust, The Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams
Foundation, United Airlines, the Official Airline of The
Wolfsonian–FIU, and the glass artists at the Toledo
Museum of Art’s Glass Pavilion.
Introducing Pan Pan Café
“I want this café to be a seamless complement to the
museum, a creative culinary venture on par with
everything else the museum offers,” says Michelle
Areces, proprietor of Pan Pan Café, which opened earlier
this month at The Wolfsonian. Areces describes her food
as “comfort food meets gourmet.” In crafting the menu,
she has provided choices ranging from quick bites such
as homemade croissants, to light fare like soups and
salads, to sandwiches and more substantial meals
including a smoked chicken quesadilla with organic
chicken and grass-fed ground beef sliders with spicy
cheese. The menu also offers truffle scrambled eggs for
those in brunch mode, a selection of homemade sweets,
and several coffee options. “I intend for the café to be a
place people will love to spend time, whether it’s for a
great meal or to have fifty cups of coffee. It’s a place
where people can relax before or after they see the
exhibitions, but it’s also a place where people can hang
out with their friends or meet with clients,” she says.
Pan Pan Café at The Wolfsonian
Photo: David Almeida
Areces, who joined the museum’s Visionaries group a
year ago, says her love of the museum and the
collection inspired her to open the café. “I see this as a
contribution to the museum and to our community,” she
says. “Miami doesn’t have a fine museum café—there’s a
need for what we’re offering. Pan Pan Café is a place for
people to sit and enjoy the museum and have amazing
food.”
In addition to the café, Areces handles catering for
museum programs and private gatherings, offering fullservice catering for events ranging from sit-down
dinners to lunch meetings to cocktail receptions. She is
also the owner-operator of Petit Pois, a Miami-based
boutique catering and event design company whose
clients include Cartier, Jimmy Choo, and the Latin
Billboard Awards.
The café is open the same hours as the museum,
including Friday nights, when it will serve dinner by
reservation only. For questions about the café or to
make a reservation for a Friday night dinner, contact
[email protected] or 305.519.5333 or visit the
café’s website. For information about catering an event
at The Wolfsonian, contact [email protected] or
305.535.2602.
Art Basel Events
The Wolfsonian kept busy during the week of Art Basel
Miami Beach with a full schedule of events, including its
December 7 party celebrating the recent openings of the
exhibitions Postcards of the Wiener Werkstätte:
Selections from The Leonard A. Lauder Collection and
Describing Labor by Esther Shalev-Gerz, along with the
installation Untitled ([construction of good]) by Bhakti
Baxter in The Wolfsonian’s Bridge Tender House. The
event featured music by DJ Hottpants.
Other highlights of the week were evenings devoted to
each of the exhibitions. On December 5 invited guests
attended an event in honor of Describing Labor, with
performances throughout the museum of a new musical
suite created for the exhibition by The Knights, a New
York–based orchestra. The following evening celebrated
Postcards of the Wiener Werkstätte. Collector Leonard
Lauder spoke to a full auditorium about his history as a
collector, which began as a young boy vacationing on
Miami Beach and gathering postcards of the Art Deco
hotels. “People often ask me what I collect, and I say,
‘Yes,’ ” he joked. He discussed his love for the Wiener
Werkstätte postcards and the Vienna they portray, a city
and a world destroyed during the Second World War.
Lauder concluded his talk with words of praise for The
Wolfsonian. “I love everything this museum stands for.
This is a great place,” he said.
Several private groups held events throughout the week.
One was the American Museum Network Conference
MUSCON 2012, co-presented by The Wolfsonian, Design
Miami/, and the Vitra Design Museum. The conference,
designed as a networking and exchange platform,
included a day of roundtable presentations held in The
Wolfsonian’s auditorium in which several museums
presented current exhibitions and future projects.
The museum's December 7 Art Basel party
celebrated current exhibitions
Photos: World Red Eye, Johnny Sjodegren
Exploring the Intersection of Art
and Technology
Erika Morales,
Wolfsonian Visionaries member, speaks at Pecha Kucha
Miami's ARTOVATION
Photo: Stephan Goettlicher
It was fitting that Pecha Kucha Miami’s twentieth event,
ARTOVATION – Contemporary Art in the Digital Age, cohosted by The Wolfsonian Visionaries and held on
December 1, kicked off on a digital note with a video from
Pecha Kucha’s founders—Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of
Tokyo’s Klein Dytham architecture congratulated the Miami
chapter for organizing twenty events since its founding in
2006. And then, in keeping with the rapid format of Pecha
Kucha (“chit chat” in Japanese), in which presenters are
allotted twenty images with twenty seconds to speak on
each, eight speakers delivered lively presentations on
varied ways in which Internet technology, mobile
communication, and social media are being utilized in the
creation and/or dissemination of art, design, and branding.
“The world is changing. We are in the middle of a human
and technological revolution,” said Natasha Tsakos, a
multimedia director, playwright, and performance artist
whose works incorporate the performer and technology in
innovative ways. She showed several examples of her
multimedia pieces such as OMEN, which integrates 3D
mapping and presents five billion years of history in just
over twenty minutes. The audience also heard from
cartoonist Hugh MacLeod, one of the first cartoonists to
put his work on a blog, in 2001—people can subscribe to
his site, gapingvoid, to receive a daily cartoon. MacLeod,
whose artwork is geared toward the business world, said
the Internet “has changed the game” for artists, allowing
them to send their message out without relying on
intermediaries. Other speakers included artist and
designer Chris Barr, whose art often integrates the web
with performance, while his day job at the Knight
Foundation deals with journalism and media innovation.
Derek Merleaux, The Wolfsonian’s digital asset manager,
introduced the museum’s digital image catalog, currently
in the early stages of testing with more than sixteen
thousand objects (and over forty-six thousand individual
images) digitized and posted to date. “Now that the
collection is out there, the question becomes, what kind of
amazing things with people do with it? How can people
make use of the collection?” he asked. Jose Molla, cofounder and chief creative officer at La Communidad,
which hosted the event, showed examples of ways in
which the advertising and branding company uses
technology to “keep brands interesting,” such as their
“Volvo in every car” app, which allows users to scan the
badges of competitive cars to detect Volvo-created
innovations. Boris Pevzner, founder and president of
Collectrium.com, introduced that company’s cloud-based
art collection management system, used by scores of art
fairs and thousands of galleries and collectors. Wolfsonian
Visionary members Erika Morales of the branding and
design firm Lemon Yellow and artist Gabriel Delponte also
spoke. Morales discussed Lemon Yellow’s design
philosophy and introduced the ongoing design exhibition
Inventory. Delponte spoke of his upcoming
art/film/multimedia project Bridge Me Japan—he plans to
travel the country by bicycle, interacting by web and
producing art along the way. Catering for the evening was
donated by Michelle Areces of The Wolfsonian’s new Pan
Pan Café and of Petit Pois.
“This discussion is timely—there is so much now going on
with the intersection of art and technology, from the
Google Art Project to AOL Artists to Power, the CNN digital
art gallery,” says Carl Hildebrand, director of Pecha
Kucha Miami. He is in the planning stages for upcoming
Pecha Kucha events this spring, some of which will take
place at The Wolfsonian—that information will be posted
on the Pecha Kucha Miami website.
Hildebrand is also the newly hired public program manager
at The Wolfsonian, where he is charged with developing
and implementing the museum’s public programs. He
comes to the museum from Metro 1 Properties Inc where
he was director of Green Building Initiatives for five years.
He has also served as a private tour manager and host at
Art Basel Miami Beach for the past nine years. Other
previous positions include working public relations for
Peter Tunney Art Gallery. He received his undergraduate
degree in International Studies from University of Miami
and earned a master’s degree from American University’s
School of International Service.
Jeff Flemings Donates Display
Cards
A group of sixteen advertising display cards from European
countries, largely produced during the interwar years and
promoting a wide range of goods, from pesticides to cigars
to semolina, was donated recently to The Wolfsonian’s rare
books and special collections library. “This donation is a
valuable addition to our holdings in this area, particularly
as most of the display cards already in our collection were
from the United States and Latin America,” says
Wolfsonian associate librarian Nicolae Harsanyi. The
display cards were gifted by Jeff Flemings, an art collector
and Miami Beach resident, who acquired them over a
period of about a decade when he was working in the
advertising field.
Display card, Colman's Semolina: for tasty dishes,
“I find the display cards really interesting as artifacts of
consumer culture. They are a slice of history that provide
insight into how prior generations of companies
c. 1940
Produced for J. & J. Colman Ltd., Great Britain
19 1/4 x 16 1/8 inches (49 x 41 cm)
The Wolfsonian–FIU, Gift of Jeffrey H. Flemings
XC2012.06.7.9
communicated with consumers and tried to sell them
products. I find them charming and funny and creative,”
Flemings says.
He bought the first one about fifteen years ago—a French
display card for a stomach tonic. “I saw it in the window of
a great old poster store, and I stopped in my tracks when I
saw it,” he remembers. After that first purchase, he began
to seek out the cards, particularly when he traveled to
Europe for work. All were purchased individually, many
from flea markets in France, while others were acquired in
Switzerland, Germany, and England. “Part of the fun was
going to markets and dealers in Paris and finding things
that were interesting to me,” he says.
Flemings decided to donate the display cards to The
Wolfsonian because he stopped collecting them about five
years ago, and they were in storage. He has since moved
on to collecting contemporary painting and is particularly
drawn to works that explore issues of identity and selfexpression. He chose The Wolfsonian because, he says, “It
is a logical new home for these materials. I’m a huge fan
of The Wolfsonian. I think it is such a unique and
interesting collection and a terrific place for these items to
be appreciated and be available to people.”
Shop Here for the Holidays!
The Seven Ring
brings good luck
It can be done. You can avoid the malls, the crowds, the
mayhem. You can get all of your holiday gifts at The
Wolfsonian Museum Shop. Your giftees will thank you—
and this time, they’ll mean it. The shop carries a
thoughtful selection of smart, quirky, and beautifully
designed items at a wide range of price points and for all
ages of giftees. We hope you’ll come in and explore, or
check out the online shop for a taste of what we offer. Just
to whet your appetite, here’s a quick roundup of some of
the great gifts on our shelves. The concrete and stainless
steel Seven ring (pictured, $70) brings everlasting luck.
Its designers, Taiwain’s 22 Design Studio, note that the
number seven symbolizes good luck, completeness, and
the seven days of the week. Their chunkier Rock ring
($80) is also a shop favorite. Speaking of favorites, the
Braun travel alarm clock ($30) gets rave reviews, many
from customers who tell us they have had it for decades.
For those holiday gatherings, protect your tables with a
set of four acrylic Keyboard Coasters ($16)—the two black
and two white coasters are modeled on segments of a
computer keyboard. The cheerful silicone and stainless
steel Lock Keychain ($12), designed by Harry Allen and
available in several bright colors, makes a great stocking
stuffer. For kids, a selection of durable, easily graspable
plastic vehicles—think cars, trucks, and planes ($13–
$19)—are great for small hands. For budding designers,
the Seedling Create Your Own Designer Dolly ($40) lets
kids ages five and up design the doll of their dreams. Gift
certificates are also available. And keep in mind that a
Wolfsonian membership is an excellent present. For more
information contact The Museum Shop at
[email protected] or 305.535.2680.
Coming Soon/Going Soon
• December 31 is the deadline to apply for The Wolfsonian–FIU Fellowship Program, which
supports full-time research on the collection for three to five weeks. The program is open to holders of
master’s or doctoral degrees, Ph.D. candidates, and others with a significant record of professional
achievement. Apply online; for further information contact [email protected] or 305.535.2613.
• December 31 is also the deadline for submitting your photos of Miami to Capturing Miami, a contest
sponsored by the soon-to-open b2 miami downtown hotel in partnership with The Wolfsonian; museum
staff members will be among the judges. Open to all, so what are you waiting for?
• Material and Meaning: Earthenware, Stoneware, and Porcelain from The Wolfsonian–FIU
Collection closes January 13—don’t miss this chance to see a wide-ranging selection of ceramics from
the collection, on view in the Wolfsonian Teaching Gallery at FIU’s Frost Art Museum.
DESCRIBING LABOR
On view through April 7, 2013.
POSTCARDS OF THE WIENER WERKSTÄTTE: SELECTIONS FROM THE
LEONARD A. LAUDER COLLECTION
On view through March 31, 2013.
UNTITLED ([CONSTRUCTION OF GOOD])
On view in the museum's Bridge Tender House through April 2013.
POLITICS ON PAPER: ELECTION POSTERS AND EPHEMERA FROM THE
WOLFSONIAN–FIU COLLECTION
On view for a limited engagement.
BACK TO WORK: FDR AND LABOR'S NEW DEAL
On view in the museum's rare book and special collections library vestibule beginning
December 19, 2012.
ART AND DESIGN IN THE MODERN AGE: SELECTIONS FROM THE WOLFSONIAN
COLLECTION
Ongoing
MATERIAL AND MEANING: EARTHENWARE, STONEWARE, AND PORCELAIN
FROM THE WOLFSONIAN–FIU COLLECTION
On view in The Wolfsonian Teaching Gallery at FIU's Frost Art Museum through
January 13, 2013.
The Wolfsonian–FIU gratefully acknowledges our current publication, program, and exhibition
supporters:
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; the Jerome A. Yavitz
Charitable Foundation; Van Cleef & Arpels; FIU Division of Information Technology: University
Technology Services; Gary Wasserman and Charles Kashner; National Endowment for the Arts; The
Wolfsonian–FIU Alliance; Lincoln; City National Bank; Wells Fargo; Consulate General of the
Netherlands; Isabel and Marvin Leibowitz; Carnival Foundation; Lewis Global Village Charitable Trust;
Northern Trust; Adam R. Rose and Peter R. McQuillan; Harry Kramer Memorial Fund; The Garner
Foundation, Inc.; Rich Steiner, CFP of Northwestern Mutual; Adam Sender Charitable Trust; The Other
Wine Co; William J. and Tina Rosenberg Foundation.
The Wolfsonian–FIU is proud to receive ongoing support from:
John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; The Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the
Cultural Affairs Council, The Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; The State of
Florida; Department of Cultural Affairs; The Florida Council on Arts and Culture; The City of Miami Beach Cultural
Affairs Program Cultural Arts Council; The Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation; United Airlines, the Official
Airline of The Wolfsonian–FIU; Bacardi, USA., Inc; and The Wolfsonian Visionaries.
ePropaganda is published monthly by The Wolfsonian–FIU.© 2012 The Wolfsonian–FIU.
Art Direction: Mylinh Nguyen; Communications Manager: Maris M. Bish; Writer & Editor: Andrea Gollin
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