Xavier Cortada
Runner Up
BIO
Xavier Cortada has created art installations at the North Pole (as a NYFA sponsored artist, 2008) and South Pole (through the National Science Foundation, 2007) to help address environmental issues at every point in between. In 2006, Cortada developed the Reclamation Project to engage South Florida residents in the reforestation of local areas. In 2009, he is participating in environmental art residencies in The Netherlands and Quebec,
see: http://www.xaviercortada.com/events/event_list.asp.
The Miami artist has been commissioned to create art for the White House, the Florida Supreme Court, Miami City Hall, Miami-Dade County Hall, the Museum of Florida History, the Miami Art Museum, and the Frost Art Museum. Cortada’s work is also in the permanent collection of The World Bank. Cortada is also known for his international collaborative public art projects. These include International AIDS Conference murals in Switzerland and South Africa, peace murals in Northern Ireland and Cyprus, and child welfare murals in Bolivia and Panama.
Cortada, who was born in Albany, New York and grew up in Miami, holds degrees from the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate School of Business and School of Law. For more information visit www.cortada.com or see attached bio and resume.
The Markers - Go to the Image Gallery
On January 4, 2007, the 50th anniversary of the opening of the South Pole station, Miami artist Xavier Cortada arrived at the South Pole to create art as part of a National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists and Writers fellowship. In creating the work, Cortada used the 3 km thick glacial ice sheet that covers the South Pole as an instrument to mark time.
Cortada planted 51 flags along a half-kilometer stretch of the moving ice sheet. Spaced 10 meters apart, each flag marked the spot where the geographic South Pole stood during each year since 1956, when the Pole became permanently inhabited. The different colored flags also displayed the coordinates of the location of an important event that moved the world forward during that year.
At the 2007 location of the geographic South Pole, Cortada planted an ice replica of a mangrove seedling. Embedded in the moving ice, the "seedling" began its roughly 1,400 km journey towards the Weddell Sea. In 150,000 years it will reach the coastline and, theoretically, set its roots.
Through this work, Cortada invites viewers to reflect on our role on this planet. Juxtaposing geological time frames (e.g., “The 150,000-year Journey”) with human time frames (e.g., “The Markers”), Cortada reaffirms the notion that we are merely custodians who should live in harmony with nature during the brief time we are here.
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