About the Speaker

For almost three decades, I’ve developed and implemented socially engaged art processes to strengthen our connection to each other and the natural world. In my practice, I use participatory projects, performances, lectures, installations, and public art to engage participants. Indeed, much of my art is structured around creating experiential activities that pique curiosity, instill a sense of responsibility and encourage further exploration to build a cadre of engaged, compassionate and science-literate citizens. I often collaborate with scientists in the art-making: I’ve worked with population geneticists to explore our ancestral journeys within and out of Africa 60,000 years ago, with a molecular biologist to synthesize a DNA strand made from a sequence randomly generated by museum visitors, and with botanists in participatory eco-art projects that address global climate change by reforesting mangroves, native trees, and wildflowers.

Understanding that our climate crisis is a race against the clock, I choose to double down on slow activism and build experiential processes to transform individuals. Genuinely molding participants into change agents who protect the most vulnerable of our citizens and ecosystems, these slow activists will infiltrate and improve systems, elect responsible leaders, and ultimately hold them accountable. As our social and racial inequities are further exposed, while a pandemic rages, and as our climate emergency worsens, I use art’s elasticity to work across disciplines to engage others in effectuating meaningful change in a polarized world.


Over the past three decades, Xavier Cortada has created art across six continents including more than 150 public artworks: sculptures, ceramics, paintings, digital works, installations, collaborative murals and socially engaged projects. These include climate art installations at the North and South Poles, peace murals in Cyprus and Northern Ireland, child welfare murals in Bolivia and Panama, AIDS murals in Switzerland and South Africa, juvenile justice murals and projects in Miami and Philadelphia, and eco-art projects in Taiwan, Hawaii, and Holland. Cortada has also been commissioned to create art for the White House, CERN and the World Bank.

Cortada received the Creative Capital Award (2022), the Oolite Arts Home & Away Residency, Anderson Ranch, Aspen, Colorado (2022); “Liberty Square” public art commission, Miami Dade Art in Public Places, Miami, Florida (2021); New York Foundation for the Arts fiscally-sponsored artist (2008 and 2019); Rauschenberg Residency: Rising Waters Confab, Captiva, Florida (2015); National Science Foundation Antarctic Artists & Writers Program, South Pole (2006-2007).

Cortada is a Cuban – American, born in Albany, New York, and lives/works in Miami, Florida. Cortada received bachelors (1986), masters (1991) and law (1991) degrees from University of Miami, where he serves as Professor of Practice in the Department of Art and Art History (with secondary appointments in Law and Medicine/Pediatrics). His studio, gallery and socially engaged art practice are based at Pinecrest Gardens where he serves as artist-in-residence.

About the Art Salons

The Art Salons are a unique gathering place for artists from throughout the South Florida region. They offer thoughtful presentations by influential professional artists whose artwork is being shown in museums and galleries in South Florida, nationally and internationally. Presenters show their work and talk about their influences, followed by stimulating discussions between the artist and the audience. These discussions cover the gamut of contemporary conceptual art practices, including cultural, socio/political, environmental, scientific, race and gender focused and aesthetic practices, the materials and techniques used to convey these ideas, and how our own work relates to the world of contemporary art. Art Salons also offer the opportunity to explore the practical side of being an artist, enhance professional development, share useful resources, and network with other artists. Art Salons have been facilitated by Elle Schorr, in conjunction with the ARMORY ART CENTER in West Palm Beach, since 2012. All are welcome to join in these timely explorations.

The Art Salons will now be presented virtually on Zoom! Tuesdays, once a month, from October to May from 7pm to 9pm. See the Armory calendar for dates or visit www.elleschorrphotography.com