Thirteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society

Abstract

Contemporary tourists often anticipate their travels including some form of “cultural tourism,” or meaningful experiences with other cultures that transcend the superficial encounters associated with mass (“package deal”) tourism and passive tourism. Such experiences are obtained largely through cultural production, those creative practices that inform a culture’s built and material values, everyday routines, and events and festivals. The unconscious process of initially reading these experiences through one’s dominant cultural lens helps to create meaning, but it must be made conscious to ensure equitable cultural exchange. A destination’s context can also inform cultural exchange; for example, the Caribbean’s longstanding reputation as a prototypical tourist destination and economic dependence on tourism complicate the tourist’s search for meaningful cultural experiences, in part by informing the unconscious assertion of one’s cultural identity in relation to the people, spaces, and practices of the exotic Other. This paper examines how Jason deCaires Taylor’s underwater installation in the Caribbean Sea interrogates cultural consumption as it highlights the marine ecosystem’s vulnerability. deCaires Taylor’s 2007 underwater installation “Vicissitudes” exemplifies how environmental art can inspire meaningful cultural exchange by challenging the representation of tourist destinations as romanticized landscapes.