Tag Archives: art

“Florida is Nature” exhibition at Orlando Science Center

 

Xavier Cortada, “(Florida is…) Florida Bog Frogs,” archival ink on aluminum, 60″ x 40”, 2016 (Public art commission at Fort Drum Turnpike Plaza)

 

Florida is Nature

a solo exhibition
by

Xavier Cortada

at

Orlando Science Center
Fusion: STEAM Gallery
782 Princeton Street
Orlando, FL 32803

Exhibition runs May 3, 2019 through July 30, 2019

“Florida is…Nature” is an evolving body of work that depicts the natural beauty of Florida It asks Floridians to define their state by its actual nature, not by things we do and build to displace it.

 

Learn more at www.FloridaIsNature.com

 

 

Celebrating the 2019 Seasons: Longitudinal Installation Spring Equinox performance

Welcoming the 2019 Seasons…

Xavier Cortada. “Longitudinal Installation,” South Pole (2007) and North Pole (2008).

 

Please join us for the performance of the Longitudinal Installation as we greet each new season

Spring Equinox

LONGITUDINAL INSTALLATION
Xavier Cortada

Wednesday, March 20, 2019 at 10:30am

at

Pinecrest Gardens
11000 SW 57th Avenue
Pinecrest, FL 33156

The participatory art piece captures voices from 24 individual across the globe who have been impacted by Climate Change.

The event is free and open to the public.
For more info call 305-669-6990 or visit

Learn more at www.longitudinalinstallation.org

 

 

Longitudinal Installation

The Longitudinal Installation at In the Garden Pinecrest Gardens:

Cortada created the Longitudinal Installation in the South Pole in 2007 and in the North Pole in 2008. During both visits, Cortada placed 24 shoes in a circle, each aligned across 24 longitudes. He stopped in front of each of his longitudinal shoe markers and read a quote aloud that revealed a person’s experience with climate change from that part of the world. His artistic ritual illustrated how everyone in the world has been profoundly impacted by climate change.

The South Pole’s Longitudinal Installation has been replicated as a ceramic sculpture on permanent exhibit at Pinecrest Gardens. This participatory art installation invites visitors to recite the 24 quotes, as Cortada did at both ends of the world.

To perform the ritual, stand behind the show marked with zero degrees and face the red and white pole as you read the first quote. (You can find the quotes online at www.longitudinalinstallation.org.) Then, move clockwise, stopping at each marked shoe to read its respective quote. Upon completion, stand just to the left of the 75 degree West shoe (if you live in Florida) and recite a 25th quote: Your own quote!

How has climate change impacted your environment?

If you perform the ritual, we invite you to document the performance with photos and video, and upload it to www.longitudinalinstallation.org

 

Xavier Cortada, The Longitudinal Installation (at the South Pole), 2007

Greeting each new season

Please join us In the Garden at Pinecrest Gardens for the performance of the Longitudinal Installation as we greet each new season:

Aside from his ongoing Florida is Nature project and the Longitudinal Installation, Pinecrest Gardens artist-in-residence Xavier Cortada is creating other permanent participatory art projects and ritualistic installations onsite at Pinecrest Gardens, South Florida’s Cultural Arts Park.  To schedule an environmental art-based field trip for your classroom or co-op, please contact Lacey Bray, educational programs coordinator, at lbray@pinecrest-fl.gov.  Pinecrest Gardens is located at 11000 SW 57th Avenue, Pinecrest, FL.

“Underwater HOA” Inaugural Meeting at Hibiscus Gallery

Xavier Cortada

Underwater HOA:   Main | About | Markers | Participate | Join our HOA | Press | Exhibition | Meeting | Social Media | Resources  

Join us!

“Underwater HOA” Inaugural Meeting

on

Wednesday, January 9, 2019
7 p.m

at

Hibiscus Gallery
Pinecrest Gardens
11000 S. Red Road
Pinecrest, FL 33156

 

 

“Underwater HOA“

(Underwater HOA official meeting notice: Our inaugural meeting is scheduled for January 9, 2019 at 7 pm at Xavier Cortada’s studio in Pinecrest Gardens. We will elect officers and ratify the by-laws. One vote per household. Only individuals bringing picture IDs and proof of elevation will be allowed to vote.)

 

My socially-engaged environmental art practice aims to help address the problem at hand: As part of the effort, I will charter a homeowner’s association where members are organized by property elevation–the most important metric any coastal community need consider. By asking participants to join Underwater HOA, www.underwaterHOA.com, I engage my neighbors as problem-solvers who will learn together and work together now to plan and better prepare (themselves and their heirs) for the chaos to come.

Xavier Cortada

 

 

 

 

 

Underwater HOA is a participatory art project by Xavier Cortada launched during the opening of the artist’s

 “Antarctic Ice Paintings: Global Coastlines & Underwater HOA“

solo exhibition premiering works he created in Antarctica in 2006-2007 

Antarctic Ice Paintings:   Main | About | 2018 Event | Global Coastlines Gallery | Press  
Ice Painting Series:   Sea Ice | WAIS | Global Coastlines

Xavier Cortada, “Antarctic Ice Paintings | Global Coastlines: A-30,” melted Antarctic ice, sediment and mixed media on paper, 9″ x 12″, 2007.

 

Xavier Cortada, recipient of a 2006-2007 National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers fellowship, traveled to Antarctica to implement a series of projects and installations. While there, the Miami artist created “Antarctic Ice Paintings” using glacier ice, sea ice, and sediment samples provided to him by scientists working in Antarctica.  “Global Coastlines,” a series of comprised of all of the artist’s Antarctic works on paper which had not yet been titled (and had never been shown) will be premiered and named at Pinecrest Gardens.  One is titled “Antarctica,”  another will be titled “Pinecrest.”  The remaining sixty works will be titled for another 60 global communities threatened by sea level rise. The exhibition is part of a broader participatory art project aimed at engaging residents in a conversation about the future of their properties.

 

 

Read more about the exhibition at: https://deliciousline.org/review/348

Xavier Cortada: Antarctic Ice Paintings

Hibiscus Gallery

Reviewed by Elisa Turner

 

“Underwater HOA” Inaugural Meeting at Hibiscus Gallery

Xavier Cortada

Underwater HOA:   Main | About | Markers | Participate | Join our HOA | Press | Exhibition | Meeting | Social Media | Resources  

Join us!

“Underwater HOA” Inaugural Meeting

on

Wednesday, January 9, 2019
7 p.m

at

Hibiscus Gallery
Pinecrest Gardens
11000 S. Red Road
Pinecrest, FL 33156

 

“Underwater HOA“

(Underwater HOA official meeting notice: Our inaugural meeting is scheduled for January 9, 2019 at 7 pm at Xavier Cortada’s studio in Pinecrest Gardens. We will elect officers and ratify the by-laws. One vote per household. Only individuals bringing picture IDs and proof of elevation will be allowed to vote.)

My socially-engaged environmental art practice aims to help address the problem at hand: As part of the effort, I will charter a homeowner’s association where members are organized by property elevation–the most important metric any coastal community need consider. By asking participants to join Underwater HOA, www.underwaterHOA.com, I engage my neighbors as problem-solvers who will learn together and work together now to plan and better prepare (themselves and their heirs) for the chaos to come.

Xavier Cortada

 

 

 

 

 

Underwater HOA is a participatory art project by Xavier Cortada launched during the opening of the artist’s

 “Antarctic Ice Paintings: Global Coastlines & Underwater HOA“

solo exhibition premiering works he created in Antarctica in 2006-2007 

Antarctic Ice Paintings:   Main | About | 2018 Event | Global Coastlines Gallery | Press  
Ice Painting Series:   Sea Ice | WAIS | Global Coastlines

Xavier Cortada, “Antarctic Ice Paintings | Global Coastlines: A-30,” melted Antarctic ice, sediment and mixed media on paper, 9″ x 12″, 2007.

 

Xavier Cortada, recipient of a 2006-2007 National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers fellowship, traveled to Antarctica to implement a series of projects and installations. While there, the Miami artist created “Antarctic Ice Paintings” using glacier ice, sea ice, and sediment samples provided to him by scientists working in Antarctica.  “Global Coastlines,” a series of comprised of all of the artist’s Antarctic works on paper which had not yet been titled (and had never been shown) will be premiered and named at Pinecrest Gardens.  One is titled “Antarctica,”  another will be titled “Pinecrest.”  The remaining sixty works will be titled for another 60 global communities threatened by sea level rise. The exhibition is part of a broader participatory art project aimed at engaging residents in a conversation about the future of their properties.

 

 

Read more about the exhibition at: https://deliciousline.org/review/348

Xavier Cortada: Antarctic Ice Paintings

Hibiscus Gallery

Reviewed by Elisa Turner

 

Celebrating the 2018 Seasons: Longitudinal Installation Winter Solstice performance

Welcoming the 2018 Seasons… Winter Solstice

Xavier Cortada. “Longitudinal Installation,” South Pole (2007) and North Pole (2008).

 

Please join us for the performance of the Longitudinal Installation as we greet each new season

Winter Solstice

LONGITUDINAL INSTALLATION
Xavier Cortada

Friday, December 21, 2018 at 10:30am

at

Pinecrest Gardens
11000 SW 57th Avenue
Pinecrest, FL 33156

The participatory art piece captures voices from 24 individual across the globe who have been impacted by Climate Change.

The event is free and open to the public.
For more info call 305-669-6990 or visit

Learn more at www.longitudinalinstallation.org

 

 

Longitudinal Installation

The Longitudinal Installation at In the Garden Pinecrest Gardens:

Cortada created the Longitudinal Installation in the South Pole in 2007 and in the North Pole in 2008. During both visits, Cortada placed 24 shoes in a circle, each aligned across 24 longitudes. He stopped in front of each of his longitudinal shoe markers and read a quote aloud that revealed a person’s experience with climate change from that part of the world. His artistic ritual illustrated how everyone in the world has been profoundly impacted by climate change.

The South Pole’s Longitudinal Installation has been replicated as a ceramic sculpture on permanent exhibit at Pinecrest Gardens. This participatory art installation invites visitors to recite the 24 quotes, as Cortada did at both ends of the world.

To perform the ritual, stand behind the show marked with zero degrees and face the red and white pole as you read the first quote. (You can find the quotes online at www.longitudinalinstallation.org.) Then, move clockwise, stopping at each marked shoe to read its respective quote. Upon completion, stand just to the left of the 75 degree West shoe (if you live in Florida) and recite a 25th quote: Your own quote!

How has climate change impacted your environment?

If you perform the ritual, we invite you to document the performance with photos and video, and upload it to www.longitudinalinstallation.org

 

Xavier Cortada, The Longitudinal Installation (at the South Pole), 2007

Greeting each new season in 2019

Please join us In the Garden at Pinecrest Gardens for the performance of the Longitudinal Installation as we greet each new season:

Aside from his ongoing Florida is Nature project and the Longitudinal Installation, Pinecrest Gardens artist-in-residence Xavier Cortada is creating other permanent participatory art projects and ritualistic installations onsite at Pinecrest Gardens, South Florida’s Cultural Arts Park.  To schedule an environmental art-based field trip for your classroom or co-op, please contact Lacey Bray, educational programs coordinator, at lbray@pinecrest-fl.gov.  Pinecrest Gardens is located at 11000 SW 57th Avenue, Pinecrest, FL.

State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs presents “Florida is Nature” at top of State’s Capitol

 

 

Xavier Cortada, “Florida is… Wildflowers,” 2015. (Public art commission at West Palm Beach Turnpike Plaza)

 

Florida is Nature

a solo exhibition
by

Xavier Cortada

at

22nd Floor Gallery
State Capitol
Tallahassee, FL

Exhibit runs December 1st,  2018 through March 31st, 2019

 

 “Florida is…Nature” is an evolving body of work that depicts the natural beauty of Florida.  It asks Floridians to define their state by its actual nature, not by things we do and build to displace it. 

Learn more at www.FloridaIsNature.com

 

 

MNMF Talk | WaterViz: The Art and Science of Water Journeys

 

Xavier Cortada with the entire Hubbard Brook WaterViz Team, “WaterViz: Hubbard Brook,” 2018 (www.waterviz.org)

Thursday, November 15 at Concrete Space

Where: Concrete Space, 3400 NW 78th Ave, Doral, FL 33122
Time: 7:00pm

Join us for the Festival Session: WaterViz: The Art and Science of Water Journeys, with Xavier Cortada,  Cheryl Maeder, and Lindsey E. Rustad. 

The Miami New Media Festival is a multimedia public art event held in Miami and other cities every October since 2006. Through the years this festival has presented video installations, 3D digital art pieces, live music and performances of more than 250 artists from 15 countries.
 
RSVP here
Xavier Cortada

Miami artist Cortada’s socially-engaged art practice addresses environmental concerns. He often collaborates with scientists in his art-making. He has created environmental installations (North Pole and South Pole), eco-art projects, and painted community murals addressing peace, child welfare, and juvenile justice concerns.
More about Xavier Cortada here. 
Cheryl Maeder

Maeder’s work focuses on the innate connection between humans & all life forms on this planet. She works on large-scale public art video installations. Maeder was selected by PBS for Project Filmmaker.  Her film is being televised by PBS, funded by The National Endowment For The Arts.

More about Cheryl Maeder here.
Lindsey Rustad

(Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study & Forest Service Department of Agriculture)
 
 

This festival has the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor, and the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners.

 

 

NNMF Organizations Sponsors and Partners

With the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor, and the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners.

Miami New Media Festival, XIII Edition: North Pole Dinner Party & Arctic Ice Paintings

Xavier Cortada, Arctic Ice Painting | “90N-08,” 12″ x 9″, North Pole sea ice, acrylic, and mixed media on paper, 2008

Miami New Media Festival Edition XIII
presents

90N: North Pole Dinner Party &  Arctic Ice Paintings 

 by 
Xavier Cortada

at

Concrete Space
3400 NW 78th Avenue
Doral, FL 33122
(305) 219-0811

opening on

 Saturday, November 10, 2018
4pm

 

Ninety Degrees North (90N)

On June 29th, 2008, Xavier Cortada arrived at the North Pole (90N) to create ritualistic installations addressing global climate change and the melting polar caps.

North Pole Dinner Party: One of Cortada’s performances included a ritual where he fed his fellow travelers aboard a Russian icebreaker pieces of ice he collected at the North Pole, thereby integrating the North Pole into their very being. “I figured that if they ingested a piece of the North Pole, it would become part of them.” said Cortada. “The North Pole water molecules would be swirling through their bodies. The North Pole atoms would be incorporated into their very cells.  My sense was that after having North Pole communion, they would protect the North Pole. If nothing else, they would do so for self-preservation.”

Arctic Ice Paintings: Cortada also taped pieces of paper to the top deck of the icebreaker. He then placed North Pole sea ice and paint on the pieces of paper.  As the icebreaker made its way south from 90 degrees North, the ice melted and created his Arctic ice paintings. The North Pole works also included the reinterpretation of his 2007 South Pole (National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers Program) “Longitudinal Installation” and “Endangered World” ritualistic installations at the Earth’s northernmost point, and the launch of Native Flags, a participatory ecoart project to engage others in reforesting the world below. Cortada created art at the extreme ends of the planet to address issues of global climate change at every point in between.

As the Arctic Melts

Ten years ago, Cortada’s ice breaker easily pushed through the then-thinning polar ice, surprising the crew at its early arrival in the North Pole. Arctic warming has since continued melting sea ice at frightening speed:   “Within two decades” stated the artist, “I may be able to repeat the journey on a sailboat, because scientists tell us the Arctic Ocean will be ice-free during summer. Global Climate Change will not just melt the Arctic, it will irrevocably change the world below.

“I bring this exhibition to the people of Florida to draw the alarming connection between the Arctic and our peninsula,” said Cortada. “Melting ice will have catastrophic effects across our state and weaken the Gulf Stream. Arctic warming will lead to sea level rise, more coastal flooding, prolonged heat waves, relentless rain, stalled tropical storms, extreme weather and more intense fire seasons.”

 

 

 

NNMF Organizations Sponsors and Partners

With the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor, and the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners.

“Water Paintings” science art works created at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest on exhibit at MNMF

 

 

 

 


New Media Festival, Editions XIII
presents

“Water Paintings”
an exhibition of works created at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest by
Xavier Cortada

at

Concrete Space
3400 NW 78th Avenue
Doral, FL 33122
(305) 219-0811

opening on

 Saturday, November 10, 2018
4pm

Water Paintings will be presented as part of the WaterViz installation by Dr. Lindsey Rustad and the Hubbard Brook team at the 13th edition of the Miami New Media Festival: www.waterviz.org

 

Xavier Cortada’s “Water Paintings” exhibition at Pinecrest Gardens in 2018.

 

img_3703

Xavier Cortada works with Hydrologist Mark Green to create “Water Paintings” at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest.

WATER PAINTINGS

“Water Paintings allowed me to give water at Hubbard Brook’s nine watersheds a voice.  In the work, I made water the protagonist.  In June 2016, I placed nine pencil drawings and nine pieces of watercolor paper inside nylon mesh.  I then tied the mesh bags to a rope at each of the nine weirs at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest and left them there for a period of 16 weeks in 2016.  The water flowing through the mesh stained the paper inside.  Water samples and water data were collected by scientists over the same 16-week period from the same nine weirs.  The final work included water samples, data, even the residue in filters.  I wanted audiences to see the water, what the water did, and what it painted as it flowed and transported materials down the stream.”

Xavier Cortada

 

img_3740

Xavier Cortada, “Water Paintings: Hubbard Brook,” paper and residue captured from water flowing from each of the 9 weirs at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest LTER in New Hampshire, 2016

Xavier Cortada, “Water Paintings: Hubbard Brook,” paper and residue captured from water flowing from each of the 9 weirs at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest LTER in New Hampshire, 2016

 

Hubbard Brook scientists pioneered the small watershed approach, which transformed the study of forests by using whole watersheds as living laboratories. This ground-breaking approach fostered many new discoveries beneficial to both science and society.

Small first-order watersheds can show us how ecosystems respond to environmental change. Chemical concentrations combined with stream flow provides data on stream-water element flux for each watershed.

Water samples and data collected by scientists over a 16-week period from all nine watersheds hang on the walls CLIMA.

Nine sets of “Water Paintings” hang from the ceiling. Cortada created each using the same water scientists study. He placed watercolor paper in mesh and tied it to a rope in each of the nine weirs. The works depict 4 months of streamflow.

 

About the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest and LTER

The Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) is a 3,160 hectare reserve located in the White Mountain National Forest operated by the USDA Forest Service, near Woodstock, New Hampshire. The on-site research program is dedicated to the long-term study of forest and associated aquatic ecosystems. It has produced some of the most extensive and longest continuous data bases on the hydrology, biology, geology and chemistry of a forest and its associated aquatic ecosystems.

Hubbard Brook scientists pioneered the small watershed approach, which transformed the study of forests by using whole watersheds as living laboratories. This ground-breaking approach fostered many new discoveries beneficial to both science and society.

Hubbard Brook scientists discovered acid rain in North America by taking meticulous, long-term measurements of rain and snow. Scientists continue to document acid rain’s damaging effects and track recovery linked to pollution reduction efforts.

Learn more at http://www.hubbardbrook.org

Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest

Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest

 

https://lternet.edu/sites/hbr

Overview: The Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) is a 3,160 hectare reserve located in the White Mountain National Forest operated by the USDA Forest Service, near Woodstock, New Hampshire. The on-site research program is dedicated to the long-term study of forest and associated aquatic ecosystems.
 
History: The HBEF was established by the USDA Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station in 1955 as a major center for hydrologic research in New England. In the early 1960’s, Dr. F. Herbert Bormann and others proposed the use of small watersheds to study element cycling. In 1963, the Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study (HBES) was initiated by Bormann and Drs. Gene E. Likens and Noye M. Johnson, then on the faculty of Dartmouth College, and Dr. Robert S. Pierce of the USDA Forest Service. They proposed to use the small watershed approach at Hubbard Brook to study linkages between hydrologic and nutrient flux and cycling in response to natural and human disturbances, such as air pollution, forest cutting, land-use changes, increases in insect populations and climatic factors.
 
Research Topics: Vegetation structure and production; dynamics of detritus in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems; atmosphere-terrestrial-aquatic ecosystem linkages; heterotroph population dynamics; effects of human activities on ecosystems.
 

Special thanks to the entire Hubbard Brook team, the USDA Forest Service, Dr. Lindsey Rustad, Hydrologist Mark Green, Sr. Researcher Tammy Wooster, Amey Bailey, and Mary Martin.

 

 

 

MNMF Organizations Sponsors and Partners

With the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor, and the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners.

 

“Antarctic Ice Paintings: Global Coastlines & Underwater HOA” at Hibiscus Gallery

Antarctic Ice Paintings:   Main | About | 2018 Event | Global Coastlines Gallery | Press  
Ice Painting Series:   Sea Ice | WAIS | Global Coastlines

 

Xavier Cortada, “Antarctic Ice Paintings | Global Coastlines: A-1: Antarctica,” melted Antarctic ice, sediment and mixed media on paper, 9″ x 12″, 2007.

 

“Antarctic Ice Paintings: Global Coastlines and Underwater HOA“

a solo exhibition premiering works created in Antarctica in 2007
by

Xavier Cortada

at

Hibiscus Gallery
Pinecrest Gardens
11000 S. Red Road
Pinecrest, FL 33156

Exhibit runs from November 8, 2018 through January 13, 2018

 

Artist Meet and Greet
Join us: “Antarctic Ice Paintings: Global Coastlines and Underwater HOA” a solo exhibition by Xavier Cortada, premiering works created in Antartica in 2007.

  • Opening:  
    Thursday, November 8, 2018 (7 – 10 pm)
  • Celebrate Art Miami Week:  
    Thursday, November 29, 2018 (6:30 – 10 pm)
  • Pinecrest Gardens Farmers Market: Distribution of Underwater Markers: 
    Sunday, December 2, 2018 (10am – 5 pm)
  • Underwater HOA Meeting: 
    Wednesday, January 9, 2019, (7 – 10 pm).

Presented by the Village of Pinecrest and the League of Conservation Voters with Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER, University of Miami Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, FIU Sea Level Solutions Center, Eyes on the Rise and the Miami New Media Festival.

 


About the Exhibition

Xavier Cortada, recipient of a 2006-2007 National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers fellowship, traveled to Antarctica to implement a series of projects and installations. While there, the Miami artist created “Antarctic Ice Paintings” using glacier ice, sea ice, and sediment samples provided to him by McMurdo LTER scientists working in Antarctica.  

“Global Coastlines,” a series comprised of all of the artist’s Antarctic works on paper which had not yet been titled (and had never been shown) will be premiered and named at Pinecrest Gardens.  One is titled “Antarctica,”  another “Pinecrest, Florida.”  The remaining sixty works will be titled for another 60 global communities threatened by Antarctica’s melting glaciers and sea level rise. The exhibition is part of a broader participatory art project aimed at engaging residents in a conversation about the future of their properties.  

The exhibition will also serve to launch the Underwater HOA, participatory public art project the artist is implementing to engage residents from across Miami-Dade County in addressing sea level rise.  Learn more at www.underwaterHOA.com or scroll down

 

 

Read more about the exhibition at: https://deliciousline.org/review/348

Xavier Cortada: Antarctic Ice Paintings

Hibiscus Gallery

Reviewed by Elisa Turner

 

 

Underwater HOA:   Main | About | Markers | Participate | Join our HOA | Press | Exhibition | Social Media | Resources  

Xavier Cortada, “Underwater HOA,” 2018 (www.underwaterHOA.com)

 

About #UnderwaterHOA

I travelled to Antarctica in 2006 as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Antarctic Artist and Writers Program fellow. There, I created a series of works on paper by melting ice samples scientists gave me from their research on how human impacts on global climate are melting the Antarctic glaciers.

“Underwater HOA“ depicts South Florida’s vulnerability to those melting glaciers: the Village of Pinecrest will encourage its residents to install an “Underwater HOA” marker on their front lawn during the first week of December 2018. The marker will display how many feet of melting glacial water must rise before their property is underwater. I numbered each yard sign from 0 to 17 feet, the land elevation range for the 6,000 houses in the Village. The signs’ backdrop show the watercolor paintings I made in Antarctica by melting ice from the very glaciers that threaten to melt and drown Miami.

By mapping the crisis to come, I make the invisible visible. Block by block, house by house, neighbor by neighbor, I want to make the future impact of sea level rise something no longer possible to ignore.

My socially-engaged environmental art practice aims to help address the problem at hand: As part of the effort, I will charter a homeowner’s association where members are organized by property elevation–the most important metric any coastal community need consider. By asking participants to join Underwater HOA, I engage my neighbors as problem-solvers who will learn together and work together now to plan and better prepare (themselves and their heirs) for the chaos to come.

– Xavier Cortada

 

Underwater HOA is a participatory public art project Xavier Cortada is implementing in tandem with his “Antarctic Ice Paintings: Global Coastlines and Underwater HOA” exhibition in Pinecrest Gardens Hibiscus Gallery from November 8, 2018 through January 13, 2018.