Xavier Cortada: Climate Science Art (2024)
Chapter: Introduction
Introduction
This catalog documents the exhibition Climate Science Art, showcasing Miami-based artist Xavier Cortada’s climate change-focused artwork from Miami-Dade and Broward Counties, Florida, and the North and South Poles, spanning from 2007 to the present. The exhibition features Cortada’s series, The Underwater, along with his earlier projects created in Antarctica and the Arctic, which explore global interconnectedness to raise awareness about the realities of climate change
The Underwater a community-led climate action project, to raise awareness about sea level rise. It uses interactive public art installations to reveal South Florida’s elevation, spark conversations, and spur civic engagement. Since launching The Underwater in 2018, Cortada has enlisted thousands of residents and students to look up their home’s elevation and make yard signs.
Site-specific elevation yard signs, sustainable concrete sculptures, and murals announce a given location’s elevation above sea level, however, that meaning is unknown to anyone unfamiliar with the project. Due to the ambiguous nature of the numbers, coupled with their inherent strangeness, the elevation markers work to pique the interest of passersby. It is in these moments of intrigue that curious individuals can learn about the local impacts of sea level rise by scanning the embedded QR codes. In this way, the artwork allows people to discover their neighborhood’s elevation above sea level, explore relevant online resources, and learn how they can get involved in local climate action.
This methodology for engagement, education, and participatory art provides scientific facts to people in a disarming way. Rather than presenting people with data, graphs, and charts, this process can engage them in conversations and art-making that will simultaneously allow for listening opportunities and a memorable learning experience. Collaboratively mapping the topography of their community, neighbors reveal an alarming reality: declining property values, increased flood insurance costs, failing septic tanks, compromised infrastructure, climate gentrification, and collapsing ecosystems. Making the invisible visible also challenges preconceived notions; living farther away from the coastline does not always correspond with lessened vulnerability to sea level rise.
This exhibition is organized by Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences.
