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About the artwork and artist
Artist: Xavier Cortada
Title: 90N/90S: North Pole & South Pole Installations
Miami based artist Xavier Cortada has created art installations at the Earth's poles to generate awareness about global climate change:
In 2007, the artist used the moving ice sheet beneath the South Pole as an instrument to mark time; the art piece will be completed in 150,000 years (see http://cortada.com/2007/TheMarkers/About).
In 2008, he planted a green flag at North Pole to reclaim it for nature and launch a participatory eco-art project to help reforest the world below (see http://www.nativeflags.org).
At both poles, he created the Longitudinal Installation (see http://longitudinalinstallation.org):
“I will place 12 pairs of shoes in a circle around the ceremonial South Pole as a temporary installation. Placing the shoes next to each other as a proxy for people across the globe, I aim to conceptually diminish the distance between them.”
— Xavier CortadaCortada placed 24 in a circle around the North and South Poles, each representing a person living in a different part of the world affected by climate change. The shoes were placed next to each other in their respective longitudes as a proxy for people in the world below. After positioning the shoes, Cortada went to each shoe and recited a statement from a person living in that longitude about how climate change affected or will affect them.
The South Pole Installations were sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Antarctic Artists and Writers Program.
The North Pole Installations were sponsored by the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) Sponsored Artists program.
Read more about Xavier Cordada's biography.