New Installation Transforms Vizcaya’s Waterfront Views with a Reflection on Climate and Power 

MIAMI – September 10, 2025 – Opening November 5, 2025, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens presents Headwind, a new site-specific installation by Brazilian-born, Miami-based artist Susanne Schirato. Commissioned through Vizcaya’s Contemporary Arts Program (CAP), Headwind transforms the museum’s Lower East Terrace with a striking outdoor intervention that explores the interplay between nature—the sky, earth and ocean—and human behavior through metaphor and movement. 

The installation rises from the ground in a flowing formation reminiscent of a school of fish, composed of blue-hued, hand-dyed windsocks that shift with the breeze, drawing attention to the invisible forces that shape our environment. These flowing forms suggest both vulnerability and resistance, conjuring ideas of fragility, power and survival. With a title that references a meteorological term, Headwind draws on the poetic ambiguity of the Portuguese word biruta, meaning both “windsock” and, colloquially, a scatterbrained or easily swayed person. Through this layered symbolism, Schirato invites reflection on human behavior and resistance, within both natural and societal systems. 

“Susanne’s work speaks to the moment we’re living in, one marked by environmental hardships and a pressing need for deeper awareness,” said Helena Gomez, Vizcaya’s Curator. “By transforming something as ordinary as a windsock into a powerful metaphor, she creates an installation that pulses with urgency and emotional resonance.” 

By weaving together scientific insight, environmental sensitivity, and artistic imagination, Headwind reflects Vizcaya’s focus on bridging innovation and the natural world. As a cultural site grounded in both the arts and the environment—from its elaborate gardens and native woodlands to its historic legacy as a hub for artistic experimentation—Vizcaya continues to support projects that spark dialogue, reflection and creative engagement with today’s pressing issues.  

Headwind marks Schirato’s first solo exhibition in the United States. Her practice is informed by a background in subaquatic research and expeditions to remote locations like Antarctica and the Arctic. Known for installations that merge environmental art with scientific inquiry, she explores the intersection of human behavior, ecological systems and sensory experience. 

The Opening Reception

The exhibition opens to the public with a special reception on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., featuring a conversation with the artist at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $5 and free for Vizcaya members, VIPs, and CAP alumni.  

Headwind is on view through May 18, 2026, and is included with general admission to Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. 

Media RSVPs: Media looking to attend the opening should RSVP to marketing@vizcaya.org.  

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Susanne Schirato (b. 1978, São Paulo, Brazil) is a Miami-based artist whose practice explores the intersection of art and science through subaquatic research and environmental expeditions. She holds a degree in Visual Arts from the Panamerican School of Art and a postgraduate degree in Contemporary Artistic Practices from the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado, Brazil. Her work is informed by experiences diving in flooded caves, participating in underwater research, and traveling to remote regions such as Antarctica and the Arctic. Schirato has exhibited in Brazil and the U.S., with recent solo shows including Águas Profundas (2024) and Emersão (2025) in Brazil and the group exhibition Ancestral Lines at the Coral Springs Museum, in Florida.  

ABOUT THE CONTEMPORARY ARTS PROGRAM (CAP) 

Vizcaya’s Contemporary Arts Program (CAP) commissions artists to develop new work inspired by the estate’s unique history and landscape. Founded on the spirit of experimentation that defined Vizcaya’s origins in the early 20th century, CAP fosters dialogue between past and present and connects contemporary voices with one of Miami’s most iconic cultural landmarks. 

Headwind is commissioned by the Contemporary Arts Program (CAP) at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. The program is supported by The Danielson Foundation, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, as well as anonymous donors; and is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture, the Florida Council on Arts and Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

ABOUT VIZCAYA MUSEUM AND GARDENS 

Vizcaya Museum and Gardens is a National Historic Landmark in Miami, originally built between 1914 and 1922 as the winter estate of James Deering. Open as a public museum since 1953, this European-inspired estate welcomes 400,000 visitors annually and includes a Main House filled with decorative arts,10 acres of formal gardens, native forests, and mangrove shores.       

On the west side of the property, the historic Vizcaya Village, which offers a Sunday farmers market and new Village Café, is being restored to support new community programs, including urban agriculture.       

Located at 3251 South Miami Avenue (with the Village across the street at 3250 South Miami Avenue), Vizcaya Museum and Gardens is open daily, except Tuesdays, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and closed for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. For more information, visit www.vizcaya.org.