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Explorers, both ancient and modern, have perennially salivated over discovering mysterious islands whose golden banks might be speckled with pulverized gems or perhaps even be the site of the fountain of youth or buried treasure. Needless to say, they weren’t searching for one of the troves of used condoms, broken beer bottles, or sundry trash peppering the shores of the scraggly atolls dotting Biscayne Bay. The alluring myth of claiming terra incognita has fueled the inspiration of scribes ranging from Homer to Jose Saramago, who snagged the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998. In Saramago’s 50-page story, The Tale of the Unknown Island, the protagonist asks a king for a seaworthy vessel to search for an island no one thinks really exists. In the end, he ultimately discovers himself.
At the Frost Art Museum , Spanish artists Esther Villalobos and Mar Solis launch their vision of Saramago’s meaningful fable in an installation titled after the award-winning Portuguese author’s book. In their version of “The Tale of the Unknown Island,” on display until March 13, the artists wade deeply into Saramago’s exploration of literary symbolism and themes splashing across memory, dreams, death, and renewal, from the perspectives of their own work.
Tuesdays-Sundays, 10 a.m. Starts: Feb. 2. Continues through March 13, 2011
