Promises of Paradise: Staging Mid-Century Miami

FAIN: MI-50051-06

Bass Museum of Art (Miami Beach, FL 33139)
Ruth Grim (Project Director: March 2006 to November 2009)

Implementation of a traveling exhibition, two catalogs, a symposium, and educational and public programming exploring mid-century Miami's history, architecture, and decorative arts.

Implementation of the first comprehensive exhibition to examine Greater Miami during the mid-twentieth century through the lens of architecture, design, urban planning, history, popular and material culture. The exhibition is interactive, multi-media and one of the first to take such a comprehensive view of an urban area at this particular time. It is accompanied by two publications and has been funded by the NEH at the Consultation and Planning grant stages. Many distinguished national advisors from diverse disciplines have contributed on the project from its inception. Architectural renderings, drawings, models, furniture, decorative arts, fashion, vintage film footage, CD Rom virtual tours come together in a truly one-of-a-kind exhibition devoted to a period when Miami represented a "promise of paradise" to many Americans even if this promise was not always kept.