Miami
artist Xavier Cortada, a recipient of the 2006-2007
National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists and Writers
Program, traveled to
Antarctica
during December 28, 2006 - January
12, 2007 to implement various
art projects.
Cortada planted 51 flags --and an ice replica of a
mangrove seedling-- on a moving glacier to mark the passage of
time; created a collaborative mural with scientists who work
there; painted a portrait of Sir Ernest Shackleton for the
South Pole (permanently placing the famed explorer in the
place that eluded him in life); and placed flags for
endangered animals from each time zone around the South Pole.
Cortada also used 12 pairs of black shoes to create an
installation at the South Pole expressing the
environmental concerns of people living in the world above
The purpose of the NSF
Antarctic Artists and Writers Program is to enable serious
writings and works of art that exemplify the Antarctic
heritage of humankind. In particular, the program seeks to
increase public
understanding of the Antarctic region, including the continent
and the surrounding oceans,
as well as the associated research and
education endeavors.
Through
his fellowship in Antarctica, Cortada strived to create art in
Antarctica to demonstrate how interconnected we as people are
to each other and to our planet. As such, the
artist's explorations included environmental concerns and
how time passes through us. He created site-specific
installations, sketched, and painted, photographed and
videotaped, as well as conducted interviews and documented
scientist's work in Antarctica.
Art
in Antarctica involved the creation, installation and
documentation of several site-specific series of projects in
the McMurdo Station and South Pole Amundsen-Scott Station,
including:
Please click on links to
learn more about each of the projects
Composer and
sound-artist Juan Carlos Espinosa will accompany the artist to
assist with the mural/installations at the
stations, set-up and document the conceptual art pieces, and
create a musical pieces using the recorded samplings of sound from
all processes. Dr. Espinosa's music, along with Cortada's digital
video, photographs, sketches, and writings will be displayed
at the project exhibit.
ON EXHIBIT
In
September 2007, works created during the residency will be
exhibited at the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art in
"Weather Report: Art & Climate Change," a group show curated
by Lucy Lippard. For more information, please visit
http://www.cortada.com/2007/bmoca.htm..
In
June 2007, Xavier Cortada's
"Longitudinal Installation" (created during this residency) will be exhibited in Oslo for
UN World Environment Day 2007, in an exhibit
the Natural World
Museum is producing in partnership with the United Nations Environment
Programme.
This
traveling exhibition addresses the theme of Climate
Change from a global perspective - the melting and thawing of
ice, snow and permafrost are environment-altering changes
taking place around the world- from the Andes to the Himalayas
to the melting ice caps of the Poles. The exhibit tour
includes the following venues:
Nobel Peace Center
Oslo, Norway
June 5 - August 20, 2007
http://www.nobelpeacecenter.org/
BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts
Brussels, Belgium
October 6, 2007 - January 6, 2008
http://www.bozar.be/
Ministry of Culture
Monaco
February – March 2008
http://www.gouv.mc/
Field Museum
Chicago, United States
April – September 2008
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/
For more information about this
traveling exhibit, please visit
http://www.cortada.com/2007/nobel.htm.
Art in
