A series of site-specific public art projects developed in direct response to the environmental issues facing South Florida.
Co-presented by Bas Fisher Invitational (BFI) and Bridge Initiative.
Poised as the canary in the coal mine, Miami will be an example for other large coastal cities who will follow in our footprints. Will we sink or float? As environmental issues become increasingly prevalent and hypervisible, we believe the most compelling work in Miami is coming from artists addressing the climate crisis head on. According to a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Miami has the largest population vulnerable to sea-level rise in the Western Hemisphere, and is situated in a state where until recently, government officials had been forbidden to use the word “Climate Change” in official communication. As more and more site-specific projects address Miami’s precarious ecological position, Bas Fisher Invitational (BFI) and Bridge Initiative have formed a symbiotic partnership to illuminate these issues, advocate for change, and present an opportunity for public action through innovative, temporary public art installations around Miami.
COLLABORATION
WATERPROOF MIAMI takes BFI’s signature curatorial project, Nomadic Miami, and adapts it into an environmentally focused platform for climate advocacy through close collaboration with Bridge Initiative, which brings artists and scientists together to create informed, impactful artworks that offer opportunities for action, outreach, and engagement.
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By bringing artists and scientists together, Bridge curates public art that draws attention to the impacts of climate change in unique and engaging ways. As such, artists become cultural ambassadors and environmental advocates, inspiring a new generation to take action, while strengthening their own relationship to the natural world.
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BFI is an artist-run presenting organization dedicated to creativity, experimentation, and discourse in contemporary art. BFI creates a bridge between Miami and the international art world by curating programs featuring both local and global artists at sites throughout Miami-Dade County, and in collaboration with national and international partnering organizations.
PROJECTS
Public Art Tour of Miami Design District
Join us on Saturday October 22nd for a special tour of the Miami Design District, featuring A.L. Steiner.
Walk & Talk with James Quinaz + A.L. Steiner
Join artist A.L. Steiner (Miami, b. 1967) as she discusses her billboard project Welcome to the Misanthropocene (Origins of Ecofeminism), on view in the Miami Design District.
Nadir Souirgi Metonym
Metonym, a new series of paintings by Nadir Souirgi, challenges human positionality in relation to other animal realms through disorientation, interweaving, and framing.
Clearing
An Interpretive Nature walk on the Underline by artist Nadir Souigi
Coral City Camera Coral Morphologic
Is the background on this page murky? The tide may be going out. Dark? The sun must have set in Miami for the day. This webpage’s background is a live-view into Biscayne Bay, via the Coral City Camera, so we hope its loading crystal-clear!
Welcome to the Misanthropocene (origins of Ecofeminism)
A collaboration between DACRA, Bas Fisher Invitational, Bridge Initiative, and Otherwild.
The Symbiotic Shore
The Symbiotic Shore
Curated by the Institute of Queer Ecology
Carlos Betancourt, Into The Everglades
“Into the Everglades” is back on the Miami skyline!
Orlando Estrada, The Infinite Vision in the Ethereal Rainbows Swarming Behind my Eyelids Reveals a Beacon
As spring breakers stumble past the former True Religion Jeans boutique on Miami’s South Beach, a pause reveals an exhibition examining Miami’s potential course of ecological destruction through a captivating and kaleidoscopic lens.
Joshua Citarella, Left Futures
During a turbulent moment of political transition, where the hypotheses in Joshua Citarella’s research-based art practice are playing out in real time, BFI and Bridge Initiative will premiere Left Futures, as part of the series “Waterproof Miami”, a curatorial partnership between the organizations.
Orlando Estrada, Dear Miami
Launching September 2020, Dear Miami is a billboard installation in Miami Springs, facing SR 112 and NW South River Drive.
Soon We Will Embrace Again, Carlos Betancourt
A surprise public art intervention along Miami’s Biscayne Bay in an effort to nourish and generate optimism.
Rethink Miami Beach, Thalassia, Michele Oka Doner
Continuing our Waterproof Miami project, Thalassia, with Michele Oka Doner, we are excited to offer a special Earth Day activation of Doner's project.
Coral City Camera
Coral City Camera is a multimedia artwork and research tool, developed by artist-scientist duo Coral Morphologic.
WATERPROOF Pool Panel
BFI and Bridge Initiative in partnership with The Standard invite you to a Pool Panel, on November 12th.
SUPPORT
Programming for WATERPROOF MIAMI is made possible through the collective efforts of Bas Fisher Invitational and Bridge Initiative. WATERPROOF Programs are generously supported in part by a Knight Arts Challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and with the support of the Andy Warhol Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council of Arts and Culture and the State of Florida, The Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, the City of Miami Beach, Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council, the Cowles Charitable Trust and the Miami Downtown Development Authority.
