What do evangelical alphabet primers, National Socialist toothpaste pamphlets, Czech photo-texts, motocar marketing booklets, poems comprised on nonsense sounds, and end-of-the-world scenarios filmed by the angel of Notre Dame have in common? The Wolfsonian-FIU. In Rewriting the World: Primers and Poetry in the Age of Confusion, which will be on display from April 7th and through June 5th, Matthew Abess, the curatorial research assistant at the Wolfsonian-FIU, has mined its collection of rare books and pamphlets to create an innovative exhibition that reveals the political and social mood of the early twentieth century.

Abess draws upon the Wolfsonian’s vast achieves which is a rich and vibrant treasure trove for artists, writers and lovers of words to fall in love with. The exhibition attempts to uncover a world, or the common language of an era, that is subtly revealed through the language of poets, technical writers and marketers. “For the writers, designers, and even corporations behind these works, the transformation of everyday life was something to be achieved by linguistic means, and especially by the transformation of language itself,” notes Matthew Abess. “At their most effective, these efforts to initiate readers into certain visions of the present and future are well concealed. This exhibition aims to make them manifest.”

As part of the Knight-funded O, Miami poetry festival, which aims to bring a poem to every resident of Miami-Dade County during the month of April, the Wolfsonian will do its part to bring poetry to the public. The museum will project Abeceda 2000 in its street front windows from nightfall to sunrise beginning on April 7, 2011. The film recreates the Liberated Theater’s performance of Abeceda—an icon of Czech avant-garde poetry, dance, and constructivist design—using the 1926 “photo-text” publication as its visual guide.

In conjunction with the exhibition and in collaboration with independent curator Brett Fletcher Lauer, The Wolfsonian has also invited five contemporary writers to contribute original postcard poems written through the themes in Rewriting the World. The postcards will be distributed in the museum and also will be used in O, Miami’s international call for mail art, a part of the Abe’s Penny Live installations at ArtSeen, where visitors will be sending the postcards to writers and curators internationally as well as to random addresses throughout Miami-Dade County.

Special Event Info: On Friday, April 22nd, following the 6pm gallery tour, Matthew Abess, and director of O, Miami Scott Cunningham, will introduce Rewriting the World and engage with the audience about matters of poetry, persuasion, and the language of everyday life. Wine reception to follow; event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Julieth Dabdoub at 305.535.2622 or [email protected]. Location: 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, FL. Admission discount in effect through April 14, 2011: $5 for adults; $3.50 for seniors, students, and children age 6 -12; and free for Wolfsonian members, State University System of Florida staff. Phone: 305.531.1001 or visit www.wolfsonian.org for further information.