On December 5th, 2021, the Village of Pinecrest dedicated Xavier Cortada’s Eco-art Colonnade, an interactive 200-foot long eco-art exhibition at Pinecrest Gardens. The Eco-art Colonnade showcases a collection of Cortada’s most important projects so visitors can learn about critical environmental issues impacting South Florida, participate in a range of ongoing eco-art initiatives, and ultimately discover how they can help to protect people and the planet.   

Among the nine featured participatory art projects are the “Underwater HOA”  (the internationally renowned effort convening neighbors to plan for sea level rise), “Seahorse Society” (where participants pledge to protect Biscayne Bay and its seagrasses), and “Native Flags” (the urban reforestation campaign that Cortada launched at the North Pole in 2008). Each of the projects along the Colonnade provides an overview of the problem that it attempts to address, the history of the project, and a way for visitors to participate either on-site or at home.

“At a time when our environmental future looks so bleak, it is heartening to share ways in which we can each take individual action to make a difference,” said Cortada. “These participatory eco-art projects aim to inspire and engage our community members to become protagonists in the fight against global climate change and rising seas.”

Since his first participatory eco-art project in 2006, the “Reclamation Project,” Cortada has inspired tens of thousands of people to become curious about the natural world that captivated him as a child. Other featured projects in the Eco-art Colonnade include “Florida is… Nature,” “Endangered World,” “Plan(T),” and “Letters to the Future,” all of which attempt to raise awareness about and motivate action toward the threats of climate change, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss.

“We are so honored to house this incredible artist in our gardens and cultural arts park,” said Alana Perez, Director of Pinecrest Gardens. “This innovative, interactive living exhibition is a true gift to our community and to those in the future who will benefit from the eco-actions it will generate.”

The Eco-art Colonnade serves as a platform for community members, families, and children to have conversations about and commit to protecting Florida’s natural beauty.

Cortada asks visitors to participate in his nine eco-art projects by having them adopt endangered animals, plant native wildflower gardens, pledge eco-actions, mark their homes’ elevation above sea-level, plant salt-tolerant native trees, and write short letters to someone in the future. According to Cortada, “Working and learning together, we can all problem-solve to make ours a more just, loving and beautiful world.”

“What a delight it is to learn of the EcoArt Colonnade in Miami’s Pinecrest Gardens Park honoring the outstanding work of Xavier Cortada, one of the first artists in South Florida to engage ecological art as a practice,” said art historian Mary Jo Aagerstoun. “I believe Cortada’s EcoArt continuum will soon outgrow the 200 feet that the upcoming Colonnade will embrace. And so it should.”

The Eco-art Colonnade joins Cortada’s other public art gems in the garden, including Pinecrest Mangrove Forest (Miami’s first urban mangrove garden), Diatom Court (commemorating FCE LTER scientists who study the Everglades) and the Longitudinal Installation (a replica of the work the artist installed at the South Pole in 2007 to raise awareness of global climate change).

Unveiled in conjunction with the Eco-art Colonnade was Pinecrest Gardens’ Digital Corridor, a centralized hub designed to help visitors experience Cortada’s artwork across the gardens, feature artwork that Cortada has created throughout the community, and provide an online gallery of Cortada’s limited-edition prints available in the garden’s Hibiscus Gallery.