coffee with a curator
July 1 @ 10:30am – 11:30am
Dalí in America
Join us for this month’s installment of our Coffee with a Curator series featuring Dr. Jenny Kokai, Professor of Theatre and Director of the School of Theatre and Dance at the University of South Florida. In conjunction with our special exhibition Dalí in America, the talk will explore Salvador Dalí’s controversial Dream of Venus pavilion.
Presented at the 1939–1940 New York World’s Fair, Dream of Venus offers a fascinating lens through which to examine the intersection of surrealist ambition and historical change. Dr. Kokai will discuss Dalí’s original vision for the installation, how the outbreak of World War II reshaped its possibilities, and the pavilion’s lasting influence on distinctly American forms of aquatic spectacle—from the mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs to the theatrical waterscapes of SeaWorld.
Location: The Dalí Museum’s Will Raymund Theater (registration required) or live on YouTube (link below).
This event is free with limited capacity. An event ticket is required for entry.
Gallery access is not included.
To watch the live stream from home, click below at the time of the program:
Dr. Jenny Kokai is an award-winning educator, playwright, performance scholar and administrator. As a scholar, she is recognized internationally for her work on tourism and performance, with a focus on themed and immersive entertainments. Her first monograph, Swim Pretty: Aquatic Spectacles and the Performance of Race, Gender, and Nature (2017) published by Southern Illinois University Press, examines a genealogy of water spectacles in the United States, starting with the 1939-40 World’s Fair, Dali’s Dream of Venus and Billy Rose’s Aquacade, to argue that how tourist sites display water has significant impacts on our relationship to the natural world. She has also published Disney Parks and the Construction of American Identity: Tourism, Performance, Anxiety (2024), co-edited the anthology, Performance and the Disney Theme Park Experience: The Tourist as Actor (2019) now in its second edition (2025) with Dr. Tom Robson, as well as a wide variety of articles and essays. She received her master’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently a Professor of Theatre and the Director of the School of Theatre and Dance at the University of South Florida.
