MIAMI BEACH – Opening Jan. 20, Oolite Arts’s latest exhibit, Intertidal, will be a multi-disciplinary experience of what Miami might look like as the seas continue to rise. Created by A.S.T, a collective of artists, curators, and architects, the exhibit imagines Miami as an intertidal zone, an area above water at low tide, yet flooded at high tide. How could Miami adapt to live with water? How could the city change its infrastructure, economy and ecology to survive rising tides? Intertidal opens the door to conversations and new thinking about the future of life in coastal South Florida. “Far from being apocalyptic, this exhibit asks us all to consider our past mistakes, while imagining South Florida as a leader in addressing the inundation of challenges brought by rising tides. How will we collectively respond to these inevitable shifts in our social, economic and ecological reality? A.S.T asks questions for Miamians to answer,” said Natalia Zuluaga, ArtCenter’s artistic director and the show’s curator. The title for the exhibition was influenced by Kim Stanley Robinson’s popular climate novel “New York 2140,” where New York City is an intertidal zone redefined by a 50-foot rise in sea level. Once in the exhibition space, visitors will be immersed in a series of newly-commissioned videos, audio and wall drawings that completely transform every corner of the gallery – with a portion being visible from Lincoln Road. A 20-foot wall drawing, partly executed by hand, is an imaginary map that references and layers research collected about the effects of melting glaciers on global sea levels. Together, their installation will feel like a scrambled series of messages from a not-so-distant future – messages for viewers to contemplate as they think about their city and community.

A.S.T., or Alliance of the Southern Triangle, is driven by the idea that Miami is an ideal location to examine how a global city can reimagine its future as it faces climate change. Members of the collective include London-based artist and writer Diann Bauer, Miami-based artists and architects Felice Grodin and Elite Kedan and New York-based curator Patricia Margarita Hernández. Together, they have presented artwork, research seminars and lectures at HistoryMiami,The Schmidt Centre Gallery at FAU, Multimedia Cultural Centre, Split and the Sharjah Biennial.

“We are committed to rethinking city structures in the face of a globalized, high-tech economy impacted by climate change. Our work thinks about repurposing facets of the city, such as zoning, real estate, and water management, to construct an alternative vision of the present. Our primary focus is to use the purported freedom of art to contemplate a systemic reorganization of coastal cities generally, and Miami, in particular,” the collective A.S.T. said in a statement. On view through April 8, the exhibition will be accompanied by a series of public programs. A full schedule will be available soon on ArtCenter’s website. The exhibition will kick off at noon Jan. 20 with a conversation between curator Zuluaga and the members of A.S.T. followed by a reception at ArtCenter’s Miami Beach location, 924 Lincoln Road. The event is open to the public with RSVP.

For artist or curator interviews, please contact Marika Lynch at [email protected].

ABOUT ARTCENTER/SOUTH FLORIDA
Established in 1984, Oolite Arts is a non-profit that advances the knowledge and practice of contemporary visual arts and culture to an audience of approximately 80,000 people per year. Oolite Arts creates opportunities for experimentation and encourages the critical exchange of ideas through residencies, exhibitions, public programs, education and outreach. The residency programs include a Studio Residency Program, an International Exchange Program, a PRINTshop Residency Program, a Fellowship Program, the ARTSail Residency & Research Program and Art in Public Life Residency. Exhibitions and programs at Oolite Arts are made possible with the support of the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council; the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; the Miami Beach Mayor and City Commissioners; the State of Florida, Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs; the Florida Arts Council; the National Endowment for the Arts; and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. For more information, visit www.artcentersf.org