The late Richard Serra‘s legacy will live on in a new sculpture park opening in Northwest Florida in 2026. Dubbed the Longleaf Art Park, the forthcoming project is helmed by the Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation and will be an addition to the Watersound community.
Prominently in the center of the OLI Architecture-built space will be Serra’s monumental Passage of Time, a 217-foot long 540,000-pound sculpture crafted in thick weathered steel plates that size over 13 feet high. The trapezoidal structure that will house the sculpture joins Longleaf’s aims to blend art with nature, a project that was in the works prior to Serra’s passing back in March.
“The importance of access to a piece of work as significant as Richard Serra’s Passage of Time cannot be overstated, and the impact it will have on our local artists, residents, students and visitors will be limitless and lasting for generations,” said Jennifer Steele in a statement, who leads as the executive director for the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County.
Serra, a pioneer of the Minimalist movement, created massive site-specific interventions that encouraged movement as a way to shift one’s perception — a “peripatetic perception,” the artist once said, which would evoke reflection through exploration. Serra passed away on March 26, 2024, age 85, after a battle with pneumonia.
The forthcoming Longleaf Art Park is expected to open in 2026.
