Miami-Dade County artist-in-residence Xavier Cortada engages the public with “The Underwater”, a socially engaged art project during Miami Art Week 2023. This community-wide initiative calls attention to the climate crisis through site-specific yard signs that creatively reveal Miami’s vulnerability to rising seas, spark climate conversations, and catalyze civic engagement.  The Knight Foundation awarded a $100,000 grant to the Xavier Cortada Foundation to present this large-scale participatory art project in collaboration with Miami-Dade County and other co-sponsors.

“I am proud to see our very own Miami-Dade artist-in-residence Xavier Cortada’s interactive art campaign front and center during Miami Art Week,” stated Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. “This critical and important work brings attention to the  impacts of climate change in our community. By engaging the public, his artwork provides new perspectives, challenging us all to come together for creative solutions.”

“The Underwater” schedule is as follows:

Elevating Installations during Miami Art Week
Dec. 5 – Dec. 10, at 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Miami Beach – Ocean Drive & 6th Street
Downtown – Adrienne Arsht Center – North Bay Shore Drive & 14th Street
Learn more here
 
Close of Art Week 2023: Underwater Conversation
Dec. 10, at 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Moonlighter FabLab 
1661 Pennsylvania Ave, Miami Beach, FL
RSVP here

In 2022 Miami-Dade County Mayor Levine Cava named Xavier Cortada as the inaugural Miami-Dade County artist-in-residence. Cortada’s practice is focused on the environment, and challenging viewers to consider their impact on the world’s natural resources, as well as their personal role to play in environmental protection. A former Chairman of the Miami-Dade County Cultural Affairs Council, he was pivotal in the creation of the Arts Resilient 305 initiative to increase awareness about the impact of climate change and the importance of resiliency and environmental sustainability, established and managed by the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs.

About the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs 
The Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council develop cultural excellence, diversity, access, and participation throughout Miami-Dade County by strategically creating and promoting equitable opportunities for artists and cultural organizations, and our residents and visitors who are their audiences. The Department receives funding through the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, The Children’s Trust, the National Endowment for the Arts, the State of Florida through the Florida Department of State, Florida Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Peacock Foundation, Inc., The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation at The Miami Foundation and the Taft Foundation. Other support and services are provided by TicketWeb for the Culture Shock Miami program, the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, the South Florida Cultural Consortium, and the Tourist Development Council. For more information visit www.miamidadearts.org.