MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Right now, coral reefs around the globe are in crisis as warming oceans fueled by climate change is leading to bleaching and disease, wiping out what few corals remain.
But a Miami-led effort is using art and science to help our corals out, and a new installation is turning heads on Miami Beach, with crowds from all over the world in town for Art Week.
“I am so excited about what’s going on right now,” said Ximena Caminos, the founder and artistic director for The ReefLine. “It’s the first time we have actual prototypes on the beach a few meters away from where they will be eventually deployed.”
The Miami Reef Star is an installation on the sand, showcasing what will soon be under the sea.
“The ocean will only accept artworks at certain times of the year,” said The ReefLine Executive Director Brandi Reddick. “So our ideal time for deployment is April through September of next year.”
Miami visual artist Carlos Betancourt and architect Alberto Latorre’s stellar collaboration will feature prominently in what will be The ReefLine: a visionary sculpture park and artificial reef that will take form about 15 feet under the sea, just 600 feet off the shores of South Beach at 4th Street, expanding north for seven miles.
“We used to have the third largest reef line in the world, right here,” said Betancourt. “So if we can do this through art, then it’s infinite what we can do.”
The goal is to help restore what our natural world is quickly losing.
It has been a devastating four decades for Florida’s reef track. More than 90% of our coral cover is gone due to bleaching and disease exacerbated by climate change, habitat destruction and pollution. The reef line intends to bring back some of that lost coral.
The modules will be outfitted to easily attach coral fragments grown in nurseries, so that corals may be outplanted and propagate on their own. The first installation deployed will be Leandro Elrich’s “Order of Importance,” an underwater, marine-safe, version of the 22 car sculptures that premiered during Art Week in 2019.
“We’re starting with cars, which are the perfect platform, because they have the perfect morphology of a reef, and we’re testing coral resiliency there,” said Caminos. “And then immediately after, as soon as we can and we get them engineered, the Miami reef star will come about.”
Fifty-seven stars will make up the final installation, slightly larger than the current prototypes currently on display off 36th Street Beach for Art Week.
Each star, made of pH-neutral sustainable concrete, was created with a 3D printer to reduce its carbon footprint.
“It’s our vision is that as planes are coming, they’ll be able to see this watermark,” said Latorre. “And the watermark is actually the shape of a beautiful star. The ReefLine will be part of that constellation which will give the city, like, a beautiful identity.”
And the cool thing about these sculptures is that they also create habitat. Each of these modules has these little holes to be able to recruit marine life, encouraging fish to swim in and claim this as their new home.
“This is what we call public housing for fish,” said Reddick. “Little chambers designed with any structure so fish can actually take up habitat.”
Art, tech and science are converging to help guide our way through the challenges our marine environment is facing.
Right now, our planet is experiencing its fourth global coral bleaching event because of climate change.
It’s devastating, because coral reefs are like the cities of the ocean, if the reefs die, entire ecosystems will collapse. The ReefLine aims to show the world, that we can help nature bounce back.
“All eyes in Miami, all eyes in nature, all eyes in The ReefLine,” said Caminos. “We use this moment as a platform to show people how we collectively can create solutions and make Miami not just the city with a problem, but also the city with a solution.”
The Miami Reef Star is on display off Collins Avenue and 36th Street and will be up through the end of Art Week on Monday.