Museum to feature over 80 readers in a “24-Hour Read-A-Thon” of the artist’s
autobiography – The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí.
Open to the public from 11am Friday to 11 am Saturday, May 10-11, 2013
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – The Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida has announced it will stage a 24-hour reading of the artist’s autobiography – The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí. The event will take place at the museum starting at 11 am on Friday, May 10 and conclude approximately 24 hours later at 11 am on Saturday, May 11 – which is the 109th anniversary of the artist’s birth. Admission is free for members throughout the read-a-thon; free for all guests during regular hours; and $5 after 5:30pm. Galleries will close after 5:30pm on Friday May 10.
About the 24 hour Read-A-Thon
Approximately 80 individuals will read sections, each taking about 20 minutes, to complete the 417-page book. Readers have been chosen from the Dalí museum and local community, including members of the Dalí Guild, Dalí Volunteers, City Council, local artists, USF staff, as well as colleagues near and far. The reading will take place in the museum’s Raymond James Community Room and upstairs on the third floor overlook. As part of the 24-hour event, the museum will toast the artist at midnight, to mark his birthday. There will be snacks to keep up the energy of the readers and attendees throughout, as well as beer, wine and coffee for sale, and prizes for endurance.
About the Secret Life of Salvador Dalí
Although best known as a painter, Dalí also was a prolific writer, producing the remarkable autobiography The Secret Life of Salvador Dalí. This startling early autobiography takes Dalí through his late 30s, as it was written in 1942. The book opens with the famous quote: “At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily since.” According to the Manchester Guardian “Dalí conducts us to the very edge of the abyss of insanity. Time stated that Dali’s autobiography was “one of the most irresistible books of the year.” The magazine called it “a wild jungle of fantasy, posturing, belly laughs, narcissist and sadist confessions.” The book is superbly illustrated with over 80 photographs and scores of Dalí drawings and sketches, and is for sale in the museum store for $14.95.
About the new Dali
The new Dalí Museum, which opened January 11, 2011, is a work of distinguished architecture, with an Avant-Garden, a 1934 Rolls Royce that rains and thunders, a Spanish-themed café, and the largest museum store in the State. Salvador Dalí’s amazing works of art finally have a home designed specifically for this collection. The design has already attracted the world’s attention and is listed as one of the top buildings to see in your lifetime in AOL Travel News, was voted the top museum design in the state in a competition conducted by The Florida Association of the American Institute of Architects (AIA Florida), and was recently named on Flavorwire.com as “One of the 20 Most Beautiful Museums in the World.”
The museum’s exterior is itself a work of art, featuring 1062 triangular-shaped glass panels. This geodesic glass structure – nicknamed the “Enigma” – is the only structure of its kind in North America and is a 21st century expression of Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome as utilized in Dali’s Teatro Museo in Figueres, Spain. No two-glass panels are identical, providing a kaleidoscopic view of St. Petersburg’s picturesque waterfront. The Helical Staircase – a spiral that ascends to the third floor galleries and beyond – is the main architectural element of the interior. An energetic form created with mathematical precision and resembling a strand of DNA, Dalí recognized the helix as evidence of the divine in nature.
The Dalí is home to the Morse Collection, carefully assembled over four decades and donated by A. Reynolds and Eleanor R. Morse.