Breaking the Ice

Erika Brigham, a longtime South Pointe activist, felt the ’berg was a symbol of surrendering to global warming.

 
Renderings of Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle’s proposed South Beach “iceberg” project, courtesy of the city of Miami Beach

Make it bigger … if you can.

That was more or less the direction the Design Review Board gave to Colin Franzen, an architect with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP of Chicago who is collaborating with artist Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle to design and build a giant, white marble iceberg in the soon-to-be expanded and improved South Pointe Park, for about $500,000.

On April 11, the City Commission approved the idea of placing Manglano-Ovalle’s statement on global warming in South Pointe Park, pending proof that the pure white rock will be spray-paint resistant as it will surely attract the attention of graffiti artists and taggers within a 100-mile radius. Such outdoor artworks are a required component of the city’s Art in Public Places code. The ’berg is intended to compliment a $12 million redesign and renovation of South Pointe Park and will be placed beside the boat basin on a piece of land soon to be absorbed into the part dubbed “the Alaska Parcel,” because it was once owned by an Alaskan Inuit tribe (and later was purchased by a developer hell-bent on building a high-rise until a voter referendum on zoning increases along the water shut him down).

Called “The Drift,” the sculpture’s design is based on “data” Manglano-Ovalle collected on an iceberg that drifted from Greenland to Newfoundland. The 12-foot-high, 27-foot-wide statue beat out semifinalist Jorge Pardo’s wooden “mosquito arbor” for the Art in Public Places’ recommendation.

According to Franzen, “The Drift” is Manglano-Ovalle’s first non-mobile piece and is part of a trilogy that includes something called “Clouds,” which is about migration of weather patterns, or maybe humans … whatever. The third piece of art has yet to be determined, Franzen said.

Manglano-Ovalle — a Spanish-born artist, MacArthur Foundation genius grant winner and University of Chicago professor of studio arts — told the SunPost on April 20 that the purpose of his work is to create debate. “I like the idea of people saying, ‘Have you seen our iceberg? Yeah, we have a beach, but have you seen our iceberg?’”

And debate Manglano-Ovalle created as DRB members and a couple of Beach residents discussed the merits of the ’berg. DRB Chair Peter Chevalier worried about what sort of message it would send to cruise ship passengers — à la the Titanic. His colleague, Clothide Luce, commented that icebergs don’t float around in the West Indies — at least not yet — and so it likely won’t offend the cruise industry. “It’s not making a statement about gluttony or gambling addiction.”

K.P. Cote of Portofino Tower, meanwhile, just didn’t get why she should see it every time she looked out her window. After reading about the ’berg in The SunPost, she did an informal poll of what she said was 100 people. One hundred percent thought it was funny, with 10 percent smirking and the other 90 percent loudly guffawing. Cote, who felt the ’berg would get in the way of Frisbee and soccer players, didn’t see it as funny. She saw it as a $500,000 “mockery of taxpayer money.”

Erika Brigham, a longtime South Pointe activist who fought to prevent a high-rise being built on Alaska, felt the ’berg was a symbol of surrendering to global warming instead of doing anything about it. “I thought it would be a more positive piece,” Brigham said. Instead there will be a six-figure reminder that “Florida will soon be underwater.”

By the way, kids, that is a distinct possibility. Maybe not in 25 years, as Commissioner Jerry Libbin pointed out during the half-million-dollar discussion, but just as soon as the Western Antarctic ice sheet falls into the ocean, raising sea levels by 16 feet or so — enough to make Florida the next Atlantis. As Chris Rapley of the British Antarctic Survey said last January, “Parts of the Antarctic ice sheet that rest on bedrock below sea level have begun to discharge ice fast enough to make a significant contribution to sea-level rise. Understanding the reason for this change is urgent in order to be able to predict how much ice may ultimately be discharged and over what time scale.”

Or someone might mimic one of the great criminal minds in history. In the movie Superman, Lex Luthor decides to strike it rich by buying up cheap desert land in Nevada and then nuking the San Andreas fault line, causing California to split away. Ta-da: beachfront property! Could that be the reason why so many people, especially South Floridians, are suddenly interested in buying up land in Georgia? No need for hydrogen bombs. Just keep on burning those fossil fuels!

In the end, though, the DRB felt the iceberg was fulfilling its primary purpose, stirring thoughts. Luce called it a “sophisticated artwork” that at least broke away from just being another palm tree. “My only issue with this is that it is too small,” she said. Steve Lefton agreed and made a motion that “The Drift” should be 20 feet tall. The rest of the board concurred, although Gabrielle Redfern did express concern that, while a small child won’t be able to climb the ’berg (it’s four feet at its lowest point), adults and ambitious skateboarders will. Franzen, a former skateboarder, said “The Drift” won’t provide the angles skateboarders so desire to climb up and fly off of. But just to be safe, Franzen recommended that soft grass, not gravel, be placed around it.

DRB member Mike Steffen remarked that the iceberg had already provoked at least one member of the public to attend a meeting she normally would not.

“This piece of art is already doing something to somebody,” he said.

“Yeah,” muttered Cote. “It’s pissing me off.”

Video Checkout

There was nothing unusual about the darkened interior of New Concept Video Tuesday morning — it was only 9 a.m. after all. But the two giant white signs with black print posted in the normally colorful window caught Murmurs’ eye. “Dear Customers, Due to circumstances out of our control (the rent) I am sad to let you know that after 14 years of providing video rentals and sales to you from our Lincoln Road location, the time has come for us to move on.” As Murmurs sat on the sidewalk to copy this parting message on a scrap of paper, a passerby paused to inquire. “New Concept is closed,” Murmurs told the man, who took a minute to grasp the, um, concept, before emitting a sardonic laugh and saying, “I love Lincoln Road. All the best places have closed.”

New Concept, a perennial “Best Video Store” winner in various publications, hasn’t gone out of business entirely but merely is consolidating operations into one store, its newer location at 959 West Ave. with “plenty of parking.” A follow-up call to that store revealed that although the 1671 Meridian Ave. locale is no longer renting DVDs, it will remain open until around May 13 to sell inventory (Murmurs snapped up a copy of 12 Angry Men). When Murmurs asked the New Concept video clerk who would be moving in, he said he guessed someone who could pay $23,000 or $24,000 per month rent. New Concept owner Dan Sehres confirmed that his landlord Dacra, owned by Craig Robins, raised his current rent of $43 per square foot (plus $12 maintenance) for the 3,400 square foot space by $20. “That’s not even in market,” Sehres griped.

New Concept isn’t the only independent holdout to finally pack it in on chain-store-heavy Lincoln Road in recent times. Pink Flamingo, the nice and slightly naughty purveyor of greeting cards, flamboyant Halloween masks, feather boas and sundry tchotchkes, vacated the road for good a couple of months ago, also after about 15 years of service. Now its storefront windows are covered with giant posters proclaiming the space’s future tenant, Aldo, a retail shoe giant with 600 stores spread out across the United States, Canada and England.

During his closeout sale (at which Murmurs scored a fetching pterodactyl writing utensil), Pink Flamingo’s owner said it wasn’t about the rent or relocating; he was just ready for something new. And, as Lincoln Road grows more and more generic, he may not be the only one.

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