WASHINGTON – Cultural Programs of the National Academy of Sciences announces “Xavier Cortada: Climate Science Art,” an exhibition featuring Miami-based artist Xavier Cortada’s climate change-focused artwork from Miami-Dade County, Florida, and the North and South Poles, spanning from 2007 to the present. The exhibition opens on July 10, 2024, at the National Academy of Sciences and will remain on view through Dec. 31, 2024.
The exhibition includes Cortada’s “The Underwater,” a community-led climate action project initiated to raise awareness about sea-level rise. It uses interactive public art installations, including yard signs, murals, and sustainable concrete markers, 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 homes’ elevations and make yard signs. 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. Several original artifacts from the project are featured in the exhibition. Also on view are earlier examples of Cortada’s projects exploring ideas of global interconnectedness to raise awareness about the realities of climate change.
Cortada is a socially engaged artist who uses art’s elasticity to work across disciplines to catalyze communities in creative problem-solving. He received a 2023 Eric and Wendy Schmidt Award for Excellence in Science Communications from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Pictured: Underwater HOA Elevation Drive: 7, 2018, aerial photograph of paint on asphalt.