Miami-Dade Artist-in-Residence increases awareness of sea level rise with art installation campaign at Miami-Dade Parks

On February 2, 2024 at 10:30 a.m., Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department will join Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Miami-Dade Artist-in-Residence Xavier Cortada for the official kickoff of The Underwater, a socially engaged art campaign intended to raise awareness about climate change and sea level rise. In partnership with the Cortada Foundation, the Knight Foundation, the University of Miami, and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the campaign kickoff will take place at Matheson Hammock Park, located at 9610 Old Cutler Road, Miami, FL 33156.

"Our parks and public spaces offer the perfect scenario to inspire and educate our community through interactive art campaigns like this one,” stated Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. "This critical and important work by our very own artist-in-residence, Xavier Cortada, 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 is a public art initiative that seeks to generate awareness and action around the climate crisis through interactive installations across the Miami-Dade Parks system. These art installations consist of sustainable concrete elevation sculptures that foster community-driven climate solutions with a focus on sea level rise in South Florida.

“As sea level rise continues to impact our neighborhoods, exhibiting this art installation at Matheson Hammock Park will allow the residents of District 7 to consider how climate change will increasingly affect their own backyards,” said Miami-Dade County Commissioner Raquel Regalado.

The concrete elevation sculptures are the latest expansion of Xavier Cortada’s Underwater, and have already been installed at six Miami-Dade Parks, including Westwind Lakes Park, Continental Park, Deerwood Bonita Lakes Park, JL (Joe) and Enid W. Demps Park, Gwen Cherry Park, and Oak Grove Park, with the goal of installing a marker in all Miami-Dade County parks.

“Miami-Dade Parks is proud to be a part of a project that engages our community in climate change awareness,” said Miami-Dade County Parks Director Maria I. Nardi. “This partnership leverages parks and open spaces to help educate the public and enhance awareness of the effects of climate change.”

The elevation markers bear a QR code that connects with a website that shows six feet of projected sea level rise, allows them to find the elevation, and invites them to get involved.

“I wanted to create a community-wide participatory art installation to understand we are all in this together, and instead of kicking the can down the road, we can work now to prepare for a future with rising seas,” Cortada said.

Visit The Cortada Foundation to learn more about this initiative.

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About Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces: Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces is the third largest accredited county park system in the United States, consisting of 287 parks and 40,000+ acres of parks and natural areas, comprised of active, passive parklands and nature preserves. It is one of the most unique park and recreation systems in the world and focused on placemaking, health and fitness, and conservation and stewardship. Miami-Dade Parks is a recipient of numerous awards, both as an agency as a whole and for the accomplishments of its individual facilities and programs. It is one of only 199 park and recreation agencies to be CAPRA-accredited. It is also a two-time recipient of the Governor’s Sterling Award and the National Recreation and Park Association Gold Medal Award for demonstrated excellence in long-range planning, resource management and agency recognition, among other accolades.

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