|
East Meets West At '07 Deco Weekend
|
|
Poster created specifically for the 30th annual Art Deco Weekend on Miami Beach, reflects the theme: East Meets West: Art Deco from Shanghai to Miami. Created by artist Philip Brooker, the poster helps bring together two very far-flung worlds in one of the most unusual and unexpected Art Deco Weekends to date.
|
|
This year, the 30th annual Art Deco Weekend, run by the Miami Design Preservation League (MDPL), embarked upon an ambitious and ground-breaking adventure, a look at the little-known Art Deco architecture and design of Shanghai.
East Meets West: Art Deco from Shanghai to Miami held in mid-January explored not just architecture but the history and customs that created it.
A lecture series at The Wolfsonion-FIU museum hosted speakers examining the architecture, development, and historic preservation of Shanghai, along with an examination of India.
MDPL’s film series, which took place at both the Art Deco Welcome Center and The Wolfsonian-FIU, included features from Orson Welles' 1947 classic, The Lady from Shanghai, to seldom-seen silent gems such as Wu Yonggang's 1934 Goddess.
Miami and Shanghai, though an ocean, a dateline, and a continent apart, share much in common. Both are vibrant gateway cities, fast-growing and ever-changing, and both are home to many Art Deco buildings constructed in the 1930s and 1940s. Both are iconic cities, the stuff of film and lore.
At the Art Deco Welcome Center, the MDPL hosted a photographic exhibition of Art Deco architecture in Shanghai. This exhibition was specially prepared for Art Deco Weekend by the Shanghai government.
Art Deco Weekend festivities also included the annual parade and the second annual "Arf" Deco Dog Parade. MDPL also welcomed the Art Deco Classic Car Fest, sponsored by the South Florida Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America, with antique cars showcased both in the parade and throughout the weekend.
There was also a full complement of vendors selling antiques, collectibles, art, and crafts, along with musical performances, street entertainers, and festival food.
Art Deco Weekend supports MDPL’s efforts to maintain the historic district. The Miami Design Preservation League is a non-profit preservation and arts organization founded in 1976.
It is devoted to preserving, protecting and promoting the architectural, cultural, social, economic, and environmental integrity of the Miami Beach Architectural Historic District (Art Deco District) as well as other areas of the city and South Florida, wherever historic preservation is a concern.
MDPL is the oldest Art Deco society in the world.
|
