Art Deco Alive! Photo
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What do Miami and Mumbai have in common? It’s not a trick question. Beyond their cultural richness and alliterative names, the global capitals share much more than you might expect from two cities worlds apart. Gayatri Hingorani Dewan, originally from Mumbai, noticed the similarities as soon as she moved here.
“It just felt oddly familiar,” she tells New Times. “The sea breeze, seeing the banyan trees, even the peacocks in the backyard — it instantly reminded me of Mumbai.” Another visual reminder of home? The prevalence of Art Deco architecture. Miami has more Art Deco buildings than any other city in the world, but only one other comes close: Mumbai.
The architectural style marks its centennial this year, and to mark the occasion, Hingorani Dewan, along with friends Smiti Kanodia and Salma Merchant Rahmathulla, also from Mumbai and now based in Miami, founded Art Deco Alive!, a vehicle for panels, exhibitions, tours, and a symposium exploring the aesthetic link between the two cities. The nonprofit will host several events in Miami in October before taking its programming to Mumbai the following month.
Art Deco Weekend — created by the Miami Design Preservation League and hosted in Miami Beach each January — marked the centennial at the beginning of this year. Art Deco Alive!, however, chose to host their events in the fall to better coincide with a similar homage happening in Paris in late October. “We’re sandwiching that event,” says Merchant Rahmathulla excitedly. “We’ll be in Miami in early October and then in Mumbai in November, and in between is the Paris Expo 100th-year celebration.”
Art Deco Alive!’s Miami programming comprises a symposium at the Wolfsonian-FIU Museum, a 1920s-themed cocktail party, heritage walks, and a jewelry showcase of Indian and Latin American designers influenced by the design style’s sharp lines and geometric shapes. From Ocean Drive to Marine Drive,” on view at the Art Deco Museum October 10 through December 1, explores the architectural style’s influence across creative disciplines, including drawings, memorabilia, furniture, typography, and beyond. The exhibition will also travel to Mumbai in November.
“We really tried to curate a celebration that will bring everybody to the conversation,” says Merchant Rahmathulla. “Whether you are interested in the architecture, or you like the jewelry, or the fashion, or you’re more interested in the culture and history, we’ll have it all.”
The trio is just as interested in drawing parallels as it is in highlighting some of the differences that make each city’s take on Art Deco unique. “Miami’s Deco is more tropical, so you see all the nautical features, like palms and flamingos,” says Hingorani Dewan. “In Mumbai, you see more Indian deities, and lotuses, and peacocks.” She adds that Miami’s presentation feels more like a living museum, whereas in Mumbai, Art Deco buildings are “more ingrained into the daily life.”
Spotlighting those connections and contrasts has become a passion project for the founders. “I have always been involved in curating different things wherever I have lived in the world, whether it be Paris, or Washington, or New York, or London, or Mumbai,” says Merchant Rahmathulla. “This is a natural extension of that. To be able to connect the city where I live to the city where I’m from is particularly interesting.”
“From Ocean Drive to Marina Drive.” On view Friday, October 10, through Monday, December 1, at the Art Deco Museum, 1001 Ocean Dr., Miami Beach. 305-672-2014; mdpl.org. Admission costs $7.
Art Deco Alive! Friday, October 10, through Friday, October 24, at various locations. artdecoalive.org. Ticket costs vary via eventbrite.com.
