Artist Xavier Cortada painting Keep Cool

Keep Cool Towel

Coral Gables Museum launches a special collaboration between local environmental artist Xavier Cortada, and MISSION.

CORAL GABLES, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES, May 19, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- The Coral Gables Museum is pleased to announce the launch of a special collaboration between local environmental artist Xavier Cortada, and MISSION, a leading provider of active wearable cooling designs. The project, called Keep Cool Miami-Dade, is a social practice campaign aimed at creating awareness on the effects of heat, climate change and sustainability in Miami-Dade County. A three-day pop-up exhibition at the Museum will open on National Heat Awareness Day, May 26, and be followed by a series of social engagement actions, online and in the City, throughout the Summer. It will conclude with a month-long educational installation in the Museum’s Zahner Center, where all the information gathered during this time will be exposed.

Featuring Cortada’s original artwork, the Keep Cool Miami-Dade exhibition will take place in the Community Meeting Room from May 26th to May 28th, 2023. One of the highlights of the show is the original design of the artist for a MISSION-designed cooling towel that has become the identity image of the project. Other MISSION cooling towels have been individually intervened by Cortada to create three mosaics that reveal heat maps of Miami. They will be accompanied by several individual pieces, and a video projection on the project.

Beside the online presence of this social practice campaign, students and other community members will implement surveys and inform people about these issues, throughout the Summer. They will target different segments of the population; particularly those directly affected by the effects of warming in the County, about their experience with the Miami heat and possible solutions to mitigate its effects. These include varied groups, from agricultural workers, to street sellers, to policemen, to the elders. Other activations of the project will include panel discussions and presentations on the subject.

On National Heat Awareness Day, May 26th, the Museum will host a conversation about strategies to creatively engage the community in addressing heat-related concerns. Additionally, The Cortada Foundation will be tabling at the Coral Gables Museum on May 27th during the event “Hot Summer, Cool Health”. Participants will be invited to be recorded talking about why heat safety matters to them and what their favorite ways of keeping cool are.

A final educational display of the project will take place at the Museum’s Zahner Center. It will not only feature Cortada’s artwork and educational messages about climate change, but will also encourage the economic and political sectors involved to take steps to reduce the effects of heat and help keep Miami cool.

“We are excited to partner with artist Xavier Cortada, The Xavier Cortada Foundation, and MISSION to launch Keep Cool Miami-Dade,” said Elvis Fuentes, Executive Director at the Coral Gables Museum. “As a civic arts museum, we are committed to highlighting what makes life in the city meaningful, and this collaboration is a great opportunity to do that by raising awareness about the importance of taking action to protect our environment.”

“I am honored to collaborate with the Coral Gables Museum and MISSION to launch Keep Cool Miami-Dade,” said Xavier Cortada. “This is an important initiative that will help raise awareness about the climate crisis and particularly, its effects in our County. I hope to inspire others in this urgent matter that concerns us all.”

Pop-Up Exhibition: Keep Cool Miami-Dade
Community Meeting Room, Coral Gables Museum
May 26th to May 28th, 2023 | 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Panel Discussion: Keep Cool Conversation
Community Meeting Room, Coral Gables Museum
May 26th, 2023 (National Heat Awareness Day) | 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
Participants: Jane Gilbert, Chief Heat Officer, Miami-Dade County; Chris Valletta, Co-Founder, MISSION; Oscar Londoño, Co-Executive Director, WeCount!; Adam Roberti, Executive Director, Xavier Cortada Foundation, and Dr. Cheryl Holder, Physician & Co-chair of Miami-Dade’s Heat-Health Task Force.

Hot Summer, Cool Health
Hosted by the Coral Gables Museum’s TMP (The Museum Project)
Community Meeting Room, Coral Gables Museum
May 27th, 2023 | 2:00 - 6:00 pm
Join us for a fun-filled day of activities, education, and entertainment that will help you beat the heat while staying cool and healthy.

Exhibition: Keep Cool Miami-Dade
Zahner Center, Coral Gables Museum
September, 2023

About the Coral Gables Museum:
The Coral Gables Museum fosters an appreciation for the Civic Arts in Coral Gables. It explores and celebrates the history, vision, urban and environmental design, and cultural landscape of the City Beautiful within a broad audience that goes from children, families, and community members to national and international visitors. Learn more about the Coral Gables Museum at www.coralgablesmuseum.org

About Xavier Cortada:
Xavier Cortada is a Cuban-American artist based in Miami, Florida. He pioneered eco-art in Miami-Dade County and was appointed by the Mayor as the county's inaugural artist-in-residence in 2022. Over the last three decades, Cortada has created over 150 public artworks, installations, and collaborative murals across six continents and became the only artist to create work at both of the Earth's poles. His community-driven art has catalyzed over 25 acres of ecological restoration, generated participatory eco-art projects in every Miami-Dade County public school and library, and celebrated scientific breakthroughs such as the discovery of the God particle at CERN. Learn more about the artist at www.cortada.com

About The Xavier Cortada Foundation:
The Xavier Cortada Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that uses the power of art to create a more just, loving and beautiful world. By empowering communities with Cortada’s socially engaged art projects, the Foundation develops interdisciplinary partnerships and collaborations that rebuild ecosystems, spark climate conversations, and ultimately inspire agents of change. For more information, please visit www.cortadafoundation.org and www.cortada.com/keep-cool

About MISSION
MISSION was co-Founded in 2009 by a group scientists, engineers, world-class athletes, Serena Williams, Dwyane Wade and Drew Brees, as well as heat-safety experts who all saw the frustrating and increasingly-dangerous impact of heat, along with the limited solutions available to address it. Find out about MISSION at www.MISSION.com

Pamela Londono
Coral Gables Museum
+ +1 305-603-8067
pamela@coralgablesmuseum.org
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