Sunset Salons at Vizcaya: Susanne Schirato

Join us for an artist conversation and presentation with Vizcaya’s 2025 CAP Artist, Susanne Schirato, moderated by Vizcaya Curator, Helena Gomez.

Vizcaya’s 2025 Contemporary Arts Program presents Headwind, which explores the dynamic relationship between human activity and the environment. This outdoor, site-specific installation evokes a school of fish formation through blue-dyed windsocks that shift direction with the wind. Schirato draws from environmental art traditions to transform root-like forms into wind-filled figures that gesture toward systems of power. The poetic ambiguity of the word windsock—both as a weather instrument and a slang term in Portuguese—adds layers of meaning to these floating innate beings. Through its visual and conceptual language, Headwind invites contemplation on the fragility of ecosystems, the urgency of climate awareness and the complexities of human behavior. Headwind is Schirato’s first solo show in the United States.

Doors open at 7:00 p.m. with complimentary wine | Talk starts promptly at 7:30 p.m.

LOCATION: This event takes place in the Main House courtyard.

ASL INTERPRETERS: If you require an ASL interpreter or reserved seating, please contact us at [email protected] at least 3 days before the event.

TICKETS | $5; FREE for students and Vizcaya Members

Vizcaya Members reserve tickets here.

ENGAGE WITH THE EXPERTS

• 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.

• Helena Gomez is Curator at Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, overseeing research on its art collections and leading the Contemporary Arts Program, a commission-based exhibition series, including its latest project Pastiche with Miami artist Lauren Shapiro. She is an object-lead art historian with degrees from The Courtauld Institute of Art (London) and Providence College (Rhode Island). Prior to joining Vizcaya in 2022, she spent over eight years at the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, where she curated exhibitions such as "Victorian Art from the Museo de Arte de Ponce" (2022), "Provenance: The Lost History"(2019) and "Small Treasures from the Frick Collection" (2018).

PRESERVATION IN PROGRESS
To ensure Vizcaya Museum and Gardens remain beautiful, safe, and accessible for another 100 years, we are actively restoring and reinforcing key areas of the estate. As a result, portions of the Main House and Gardens may be temporarily closed. We appreciate your understanding and invite you to explore how we’re investing in Vizcaya’s future here.

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