Foundational learning and socially engaged art in an era of overlapping environmental crises.

• In Event: Highlighted Session: The Radical Assumptions of Eco-Literacy: Foundational Learning During the Anthropocene Extinction

Proposal

Renowned Cuban-American artist Xavier Cortada's work and practice demonstrate how socially engaged art can drive purposeful pedagogies to tackle the climate crisis. The paper examines Cortada's large-scale projects to explore how socially engaged art fosters holistic individuals and communities, creates opportunities for experiential learning, and develops core foundational learning capabilities such as curiosity, self-efficacy, and responsibility towards oneself, society, and the planet.
The paper offers mini cases of two Cortada projects: the “Reclamation Project” (2006) and the more recent “Underwater Homeowners Association” (2018), which demonstrate the use of socially engaged art both to promote broader social awareness of the issues but also to develop essential foundational skills for sustainable living and that foster custodial and creative relationships with the natural environment. Photographs of the artwork will be used to demonstrate the cases and how they promote civic awareness and foundational learning.
Cortada pioneered eco-art in Miami with his “Reclamation Project,” an initiative that creatively introduced the importance and plight of the mangroves to tens of thousands of people. This initiative led to the restoration of over 25 acres of coastal wetlands and spawned an ongoing reforestation program in Miami’s Frost Science Museum. The artistic process involved taking volunteers of all ages into mangrove forests to collect mangrove propagules and working with those same young people to create grid-like installations on the windows of retail shops and restaurants along Miami Beach.
The “Underwater Homeowners Association” grew out of a partnership with the Village of Pinecrest, a municipality within Miami-Dade County, which aimed to make the reality of sea-level rise impossible to ignore. Residents discovered their property's elevation above sea level using an app and installed an ‘underwater marker’ (a sign with a number depicting their house's elevation) in their front yard. As the public art displayed the location’s elevation above sea level without any explanation and clear differed from political or “for sale” signage, their inherent strangeness piqued the interest of friends, family, and neighbors.
The paper discusses how, in a world defined by urgent ecological challenges, educators, policymakers, and practitioners must actively seek creative approaches to foundational learning grounded in the empowerment of learners. This will involve a more robust discussion around the role of aesthetics in education and a greater appreciation of the inherent value of enriching a child’s imagination as they are forced to envision a future better than the one they are being given. Yi-Huang Shih focuses on the aesthetic domain in early learning as it allows children to “generate emotions connected with their environment, thereby developing concern for the natural environment and the identity of social culture.” These early emotions connected with the environment are fundamental for approaches to foundational learning

Author

• Adam Roberti, Xavier Cortada Foundation