Miami Beach isn't the first place you'd look for a take on the Swiss chalet—actually, hmm, someone wants to build a ski resort there—but come December, that's exactly what will be floating its merry way into the waters off that fair city. Locals have Benjamin Moreau and Samuel Boutruche to thank for the latest anomaly to reach their shores in the name of art, and the annual gallery extravaganza known as Art Basel to thank for the timing. With all this talk of Miami being submerged under rising sea levels sometime in the not-too-distant future, the site of a mocked-up European chalet floating in on a pretend iceberg—sunlight glinting off the fake snow clinging to its gabled roof—should be a titillating one for those who enjoy a bit of gallows humor.
According to Moreau and Boutruche, who make art installations together under the name Kolkoz, the aim of the piece isn't quite as doom and gloom as it may seem. Knee-slappingly named "Curiosity" after the last Mars Rover, the tiny chalet is meant to evoke the "beginnings of the American colonial habitat," and, floating near the disused Miami Marine Stadium, provide for "a moment for reflection" where "they seem to be saying to each other 'Look at what I've become'." Heady stuff, but given that the stadium now functions primarily as a graffiti canvas and a parkour playground, maybe a little reflection is in order.
· Art Basel: Miami Marine Stadium to Host "Floating Iceberg Chalet" Installation [Miami New Times via Curbed Miami]