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Melbourne, Australia above, a modern, safe, cultural city, hosted the 9th World Congress on Art Deco. Australian Art Deco combines European style and elegance with American vibrancy. Photo courtesty of the Art Deco Society Inc., the event's host.
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MELBOURNE HOSTED DECO CONGRESS AFTER NYC
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Art Deco devotees choose a location renowned for its Art Deco heritage every two years and gather to discuss preservation issues and socialize. The9th World Congress on Art Deco, was held in Melbourne, Australia in 2007. Delegates to the International Coalition of Art Deco Societies (ICADS) decided in New York that Montreal, Canada would be the site of the 2009 World Congress.
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Art Deco Montreal President Sandra Cohen Rose made a formal request in writing to ICADS to be designated for 2009.
The Art Deco Society of New York (ADSNY) played host to the 8th World Congress on Art Deco during New York Art Deco Week, May 22-29. In addition, a series of pre-Congress
programs in Washington, D.C. was put together by the Art Deco Society of Washington.
In New York, some 250 Congress registrants from all over the world attended the Congress, which included a 3-day symposium at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, located in the shadow of the Empire State Building, a major Art Deco landmark.
Attendees also went on guided walking and bus tours, and explored extraordinary Art Deco landmarks of Wall Street in Lower Manhattan with tour guide Tony Robins.
Attendees were given rare access to normally closed Art Deco interiors at Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall, and access to interior areas featuring great works of art.
Visits to galleries and museums, along with social events, rounded out the week. Bus tours also went to Manitoga, a private Art Deco mansion, and the only Art Deco amusement park in the world! Tours also went to the Bronx and nearby Newark, N.J., where examples of Art Deco, WPA art, and preservation challenges abound.
The Wall Street tour included a rare visit to a pre-crash skyscraper featuring stunning mosaics. A night of live jazz in a restored Harlem Art Deco nightclub also entertained delegates. A gala dinner offered a night of celebration, fellowship, festive attire, and fun.
Surprise entertainment, dealer open houses, celebrity appearances, and the camaraderie of hundreds of Deco lovers set the stage for a memorable week.
New York City abounds with a wide range of expressions of the Art Deco architecture and style and has much to offer enthusiasts. Contact the Art Deco Society of New York at 212- 679-DECO, or through its web site at www.artdeco.org.
MELBOURNE READIES FOR '07 CONGRESS
According to its President, Robin Grow, the Art Deco Society Inc., Victoria, Australia,was responsible for strategic planning for hosting the 2007 World Congress on Art Deco in Melbourne.
Its web site is www.artdeco.org.au. The Society was formed in 1992 and has a membership of some 600, making it the largest society of its kind in Australia.
Members are located in Victoria, Tasmania, New South Wales, South Australia, ACT, Western Australia, Queensland, New Zealand, China, Germany and the U.S.
Its journal, Spirit of Progress, is published quarterly under the editorship of Brian Scott. Other publications include a Guide to Art Deco Renovating, and various walking tour booklets. The society conducts walking tours, bus tours, presentations by experts and show-and-tell.
It maintains records of buildings in Victoria and of architects from the Interwar era. A major activity is advice to renovators of Art Deco properties, sourcing materials, service providers, and finishes.
Its preservation activities have included the retention of large Streamline Moderne buildings on the city fringe and fighting for retention of a Streamline Moderne hotel in Hobart, Tasmania. The society is affiliated with the National Trust, and the Cinema & Theatre Historical Society.
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