Modernism Week announced that it will offer an exciting array of online events during the Modernism Week Online Experience to be held February 1 – 28. It will feature more than 25 newly created programs specifically for Modernism Week, available for on-demand streaming starting February 1, 2021 and available for viewing for the entire month. In addition to these programs, Modernism Week will offer an online auction during the February festival that will feature unique architectural experiences and specialty items not typically available to the public. The auction and tickets for these online programs will be available for purchase starting February 1 at modernismweek.com.
The February Online Experience video programs include guided tours and presentations similar to events that would usually be available during Modernism Week as in-person events, including the popular Modernism Week Signature Home Tour Video Series. Additional encore presentations of programs previously offered in October will also be available. Ticket prices will range from $15-$45 per event, with a few free documentary film screenings. The pricing allows for one household with one viewing device to participate.
Here are some of the featured programs offered in February:
TOURS
Signature Home Tour Video Series, Episode 1 (Encore Performance), $35 and Signature Home Tour Video Series, Episode 2, $45
These are the first two installments of the Modernism Week Signature Home Tour Video Series. This guided home tour series profiles five significant residences located in various neighborhoods in Palm Springs, all with unique architectural character and featuring a variety of architectural styles. Episode 2 showcases 5 new houses, including The Morse Residence (by Hal Levitt, 1961), The Cahuilla Hills House by O’Donnell + Escalante (by Lance O’Donnell, 2009), The Southridge Glass House (by William Cody, 1963), Trina Turk’s Ship of the Desert (by Erle Webster and Adrian Wilson, 1936), and Martyn Lawrence Bullard’s Villa Grigio (by James McNaughton, 1963). Episode 1 is an Encore Performance showing five different houses from October.
Architectural Driving Tour of Palm Springs, $45
This fun and informative “top down” architectural tour of Palm Springs is conducted from a 1966 convertible Mustang. This, one-of-a-kind touring adventure around the neighborhoods of Palm Springs takes one of the top tour guides from the Premier Double-Decker Architectural Tour bus and puts him behind the wheel to give you a private tour. As he explores the city, he will also take go inside some of the most beautiful and exclusive homes designed by the Desert Modernist architects who lived and worked in Palm Springs.
SPECIAL EVENTS
Hollywood Revisited Online Musical Extravaganza $25
Hollywood Revisited sold out 3 years in a row at Modernism Week, and now as a special online experience, everyone can see the show. From the 1930’s to the 1960’s, Hollywood film directors demanded spectacular costumes and studios hired the biggest designers and fashion icons to bring to life the glitz and the glamour that moviegoers expected. Collector Greg Schreiner assembled a stunning collection of more than 300 original designer masterpieces and shares his collection while acclaimed vocalists sing and dance to movie-related music while wearing the original costumes.
FILMS
“Albert Frey – Part 1: The Architectural Envoy,” $10
“Albert Frey- Part 2: The Architectural Interpreter,” $10
These two films reveal the mystique of Albert Frey, an influential architectural master who helped bring modernism to the United States. Part 1 explores Frey’s early life and work in Europe, his immigration to America, and his architectural accomplishments in New York in the 1930s, including the design and exhibition of the Aluminaire House. Part 2 explores his Southern California period from 1939 until 1998, where Frey created a new desert modernism, where 11 of his many structures built in the desert communities are now listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
“The 1931 Aluminaire House Comes to Palm Springs,” $15
This film tells the story of the Aluminaire House, influenced by Albert Frey’s time in Paris with the great architect, Le Corbusier, and designed by Frey and A. Lawrence Kocher. It begins when Aluminaire was designed for a 1931 exhibition in New York City, and follows its convoluted history as it was relocated to the grounds of Wallace Harrison’s Long Island, NY estate, and ends with it finding a permanent location on the grounds of the Palm Springs Art Museum.
“Neutra – Survival Through Design,” $10
This is a comprehensive documentary encompassing the 125-year life, work and times of Architect Richard Neutra, a legacy which continues today through his son Dion Neutra.
“Landis Gores In New Canaan: An Architect’s Story,” $15
Landis Gores is one of “The Harvard Five” architects who settled in New Canaan in the 1940s. This presentation explores his career, family life and his unique vision with those who knew him best.
“Modern New Canaan – Evolution of Design: Bauhaus| Harvard GSD| New Canaan,” $15
Discover how the town of New Canaan became a center of midcentury modern architecture, including a visit to three of New Canaan’s most iconic houses and the homeowners who cherish them.
“Moshe Safdie and Frank Lloyd Wright at Crystal Bridges Museum,” $15
This new film was created for Modernism Week by curators at the famed Crystal Bridges Museum (opened in 2011 by founder, Alice Walton, in Bentonville Arkansas). It looks at the breathtaking architecture and natural setting of the museum, designed by architect Moshe Safdie. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Bachman-Wilson House which was meticulously reconstructed on museum grounds; and Buckminster Fuller’s Fly’s Eye Dome, and interior spaces by Marlon Blackwell.
“Introducing Rudolph Michael Schindler, Architect,” $15
This film by architect Josh Gorrell includes key examples (all filmed on location) of Rudolph Schindler’s career, used to demonstrate his evolving design work from the 1920s to the 1940s.
“Let’s Name the New Downtown Park for “Mother” Nellie Coffman!,” Free
This 10-minute film is an entertaining PSPF-produced film chronicling the effort to name the city’s new Downtown Park after Palm Springs pioneer “Mother” Nellie Coffman.
Many “Talks” also are available. Visit www.modernismweek.com for the full schedule.
Local and state requirements for gatherings and social distancing prompted Modernism Week to offer two versions of its popular event – the February Modernism Week Online Experience (Feb. 1 – 28, 2021) and an additional festival featuring in-person events running from April 8-18, 2021. The Modernism Show & Sale at the Palm Springs Convention Center will be offered April 8-11, 2021. Tickets are on sale now at www.modernismweek.com.
Photo credit: Southridge Glass House photo courtesy of James Haefner
