Not Just Another Weekend: It’s ‘A Very Wolfsonian Weekend’
The Museum Celebrates its Fifteenth Anniversary with a Weekend of Festivities, November 11-13, 2010

Thursday, November 11
Speed Limits Exhibition Celebration
This exhibition explores the role of speed in modern life and commemorates the hundredth anniversary of Italian Futurism. The Wolfsonian is organizing an international affair with the Canadian, French, and Italian consulates to mark the celebration. Attending will be Canadian Consul General Louise L. Léger, French Consul General Gaël de Maisonneuve, and Italian Consul General Marco Rocca. To honor the French consulate’s twenty-fifth anniversary in Miami, French artist Laurent Moriceau will be on hand to present a fascinating “wine” performance, Le Vin des Minutes.

Friday, November 12
The Wolfsonian Quince
The museum celebrates its fifteenth birthday with a Miami-style quinceañera, hosted by The Wolfsonian Visionaries, a recently organized group of members who are passionate about design and interested in working with the museum to develop innovative events, strengthen community ties and networks, and raise funds to support museum exhibitions and activities. The night includes a silent auction offering fabulous trips, one-of-a-kind experiences, and more.

Saturday, November 13
Community Open House
This community celebration of speed and the Speed Limits exhibition, architecture, and food is the museum’s way of thanking the community for fifteen years of support. There will be a variety of guided tours presented in conjunction with the Miami Design Preservation League and conducted on foot, bicycle, and other modes of transportation that highlight the exhibition, Miami Beach architecture, and the speed of locomotion. In addition, the day features a participatory culinary performance by Laurent Moriceau titled Do you moule a Merveiles?

The Wolfsonian is located at 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL. Admission is $7 for adults; $5 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 Wolfsonian–Florida International University announces the celebration of its fifteenth anniversary with A Very Wolfsonian Weekend, the museum’s annual fundraising extravaganza, Thursday, November 11 through Saturday, November 13, 2010.

The Wolfsonian’s fifteenth anniversary festivities officially kick off with a series of events that begins on Thursday, November 11th, the date in 1995 when the museum opened its doors on Washington Avenue. The celebratory happenings during A Very Wolfsonian Weekend include an international collaboration to mark the opening of Speed Limits, an exhibition co-organized by The Wolfsonian and the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) and commemorating the French Consulate’s twenty-fifth anniversary in Miami; a coming-of-age Quince on Friday evening hosted by The Wolfsonian Visionaries; and a Saturday afternoon community open house highlighting speed, architecture, and food.

“This is a momentous occasion for us,” says Wolfsonian director Cathy Leff. “In just fifteen years, The Wolfsonian has developed an international reputation; produced innovative and provocative exhibitions and programs; joined forces with an outstanding public research university; and demonstrated an unwavering commitment to our constituents. We’re so proud of our accomplishments, and of the many, many people who have helped make it all possible.”

In addition to the weekend activities, The Wolfsonian is also honoring its milestone fifteenth birthday with the publication of an autobiography, 1995-2010 and Beyond: Portrait of an Institution on its 15th Anniversary ($37.95), containing key information about the institution’s past, present, and future. The 114-page, highly illustrated, full-color publication—available through the online bookstore Blurb—is a compilation of facts about the institution, lists of accomplishments, images from the collection, and quotes about the museum’s impact from a variety of sources including renowned art critics and local educators who have participated in Wolfsonian programs. A section of the book is devoted to goals for the future, providing readers with a fascinating glimpse at ways in which The Wolfsonian plans to build on the strong foundation of the first fifteen years.

“It’s our birthday. Help us celebrate by buying yourself this book. Our autobiography is a gift to our constituents as well as a gift to us,” says Leff. “It is our hope that through learning our story, the remarkable accomplishments of our first fifteen years, and our future goals, we will motivate others to help us achieve our long-term objectives.”

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.