Friday Photo: (Sm)Art Cars Take Miami

(Photo: Courtesy of Wolfsonian-FIU)

Tonight, on the eve of its hotly anticipated design marathon, the Wolfsonian-Florida International University museum hosts a “very Wolfsonian cocktail reception” to celebrate Francesco Vezzoli‘s “Democrazy” installation (first presented at last year’s Venice Biennale) and “Gridnik: Wim Crouwel and Modern Typography,” an exhibition in honor of the Dutch graphic designer’s 80th birthday. Guests of the Wolfsonian and the Cranbrook Academy of Art (where, as it happens, we played many a middle school volleyball game) will be zipped around Miami in a fleet of eight Smart Cars customized with colorful graphics by Cranbook artist-in-residence Elliott Earls and quotes about democracy by artists, architects, and designers including James Rosenquist, Zaha Hadid, John Baldessari, Enrique Norten, and Ross Lovegrove. “Democracy: there is no alternative,” opines Michael Graves, while Baldessari may well have text messaged his quote: “DEMOCRACY = 2B FREE 2B.” Our favorite democratic thought comes from designer Konstantin Grcic: “Democracy for people=YES! Democracy in design=NO!” The Smart project complements the Wolfsonian’s “Thoughts on Democracy” exhibition (on view through Sunday), for which more than 60 artists and designers created original works inspired by Norman Rockwell‘s “Four Freedoms” posters from 1943.

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