Environmental art pioneer Alan Sonfist will open a solo exhibition at the Coral Gables Museum on Nov. 16. With the title, “Miami Drowning: A Depiction of Miami’s Future,” the show gathers works in different mediums that explore the environment of South Florida, and specifically of Coral Gables.
Among a greater variety of work, Sonfist’s photo collages depict local, mostly recognizable buildings under water. The transformation of these man-made structures into bastions of marine life can be seen as a concrete visualization of the city’s future, after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicted that by 2030, the sea-level will rise by as many as 12 inches, and by as many as 81 inches by the end of the century.
“Approximately 10,000 years ago, following the Pleistocene Ice Age, Florida lived underwater, and in the near future, the peninsula will return to the sea, becoming one colossal coral reef,” observes the artist.
Accompanying the collages will be three installations addressing the states of the past and current ecologies of Coral Gables. One installation will be a real-time, continuous video stream of a native forest ecosystem — Sonfist’s non-invasive intervention in a Coral Gables park.
The second installation will be a gene bank comprised of a photographic mural visualizing the ancient forests that once existed in Coral Gables, as well as vessels containing relics from the ancient forests.
The last installation will be a cube of earth that will serve as a physical representation of the ecological story of the land. The piece of land will be returned to its rightful place following the conclusion of the exhibition.
“The Coral Gables Museum is honored to present this exhibition as the environmental concerns are not only a core component of our mission, but also critical in the history and the identity of Coral Gables since its very conception,” said John Allen, the executive director at the Coral Gables Museum.
“Alan Sonfist is an authority and a leader on environmental art, nationally. This exhibition legitimizes the museum’s efforts to advance the reflection on these themes,” said Yuni Villalonga, the chief curator.
Since the mid 1960s, Sonfist has been considering climate change in his artworks. He has striven to provide thriving ecosystems for endangered and threatened species, focusing on the changing shape of the planet throughout time. In 2004, he created Lost Falcon, a semi-tropical forest in Northern Europe, protected by a Celtic fortification. The pre-ice age landscape would have existed in the area 10,000 years ago and is formed in the silhouette of an ancient falcon. Circles of Time (1986) in Villa Celle, Tuscany, tells a narrative history of the Tuscan landscape—a primeval forest before human intervention—acknowledging the ecological changes that are returning the land to aridity.
In 1965, in New York City, Sonfist planted Time Landscape, a precolonial forest representing how the city looked before urbanization: the site is in a densely populated area of Greenwich Village, where it has become a functioning oasis in the form of an ancient forest.
As Sonfist has said, “In the past centuries we have tried to dominate nature, and now in the 21st Century, we must learn how to cooperate with nature.”
Alan Sonfist’s exhibition, “Miami Drowning; A Depiction of Miami’s Future” will be on view at the Gallery 109 and Abraham Gallery of the Coral Gables Museum from Nov. 16 to Feb/ 17, 2019.
An Opening Reception is scheduled Nov. 16, 6:30-8:30 p.m.,
Come celebrate the Grand Opening of “Miami Drowning: A Depiction of Miami’s Future” with the presence of the artist.
