Airboat to Make Love
Miami based artist Benoit Izard wants to show the Everglades just how much he loves the ‘river of grass’ in a giant installation called ‘LOVE’ that he plans to do for this year’s Art Basel. It’s basically just what it looks like. Benoit wants to temporarily inscribe ‘LOVE’ into the Everglades in giant letters, as he has done around various other public places in Miami and around the world.
LOVE by airboat
Benoit describes LOVE in his own words:
LOVE is an installation project i’ve been doing now in 3 continents. It consists of writing LOVE in big letters on the floor. One of the ideas of the project is to inscribe this LOVE energy in the place, following by that the work of scientific Emoto on the memory of water and how to place a new memory (energy).
I’m in Miami, where water is everywhere ; and I’m also interested in spirituality and therefore here Indian practices ; I met Houston Cypress, representative of Miccosukee tribe; he liked my work and proposed me to be part of LOVE THE EVERGLADES MOVEMENT ; this movement wants to raise awareness, being a lobby, etc. to save the everglades (less water, pollution, animals dying etc.). The first big action will be doing a gigantic LOVE (maybe 300 feet) in the river of grass so people arriving in Miami by plane can see it. We plan to do it during Art Basel 2013.
There is a visual aspect, it’s big, in order to make a buzz and hopefully worldwide : this is not just the everglades, this is about water in the world. There is the artistic aspect, land art: in Miami we had Christo and the islands, the use of the site makes the artistic nature of the work, how we re-write it our perception of the landscape. There is a symbolic or spiritual aspect: we make an offering of LOVE on the skin of the earth, we put LOVE in the water.
Technically, no alien elements will be added. I’m using what is there. LOVE will be seen by the change of color between the blue of water and the green-brown of the cattails. The best way to do it is by folding the cattails (to bend them in the water) by passing several times with an airboat. Furthermore, it will help the ecosystem because cattails are an invasive plant on the Everglades ecosystem. There are too many now because there is too much pollution.
