ART DECO WEEKEND

Press Release

For Immediate Release:

EAST MEETS WEST: ART DECO FROM SHANGHAI TO MIAMI
JANUARY 12 - 14, 2007

Miami Beach is the place to be in January for Art Deco Weekend 2007 for music, films, lectures, parades, antiques and collectibles, and internationally recognized architecture tours.

Art Deco Weekend 2007 will celebrate and explore the global expression of Art Deco over the years and across continents. We think of Art Deco as being our own, in Miami Beach, but indeed it was a worldwide movement. "East Meets West: Art Deco from Shanghai to Miami" will bring together two very far-flung worlds in one of the most unusual and unexpected Art Deco Weekend to date.

The theme was chosen in part to complement the Miami-Shanghai architecture and design project, a series of cultural and technical exchanges between two of the most international, flamboyant, and design-oriented cities on the planet. The series begins in fall 2006 and is envisioned as a dialogue between Miami and Shanghai. The Miami Design Preservation League is a key sponsor of the Miami-Shanghai project, which will include exhibitions and educational programs in conjunction with other local institutions.

Art Deco Weekend will be a highlight of this continuum of activities - with lectures, films, parades, antiques and collectibles, music, food and more, much of its celebrating the conjunction of Eastern and Western cultures.

One of the series' greatly anticipated events will be a lecture at The Wolfsonian-FIU by Xing Tonghe, chief architect of the Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Design Group, one of the largest architectural firms in the world, which has supervised the design and engineering of 80 percent of Shanghai's new buildings. He and his firm have designed many of Shanghai's famous buildings, including the Pearl TV Tower, the airport, the Opera House, and the cultural center, but he is virtually unknown in the West.

So mark your calendars now for an exciting journey to other places and times - all part of Art Deco Weekend 2007. Art Deco Weekend is one of South Florida’s most well-known and highly attended events. The festival is presented by MDPL, which is the world’s oldest Art Deco society. The mission of MDPL is to promote Miami's heritage tourism and spotlight Art Deco to the world.