'Ground zero for climate change': the shoreline sculpture park coming to Miami

[cbabe]

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/dec/02/ground-zero-for-climate-change-the-shoreline-sculpture-park-coming-to-miami

‘Ground zero for climate change’: the shoreline sculpture park coming to Miami

An ambitious multi-part project will transform seven miles of seabed into an artistic destination with a cautionary message

Veronica Esposito
Mon 2 Dec 2024 04.04 EST

Over the next few years, coastal waters just off of Miami Beach will be transformed by The ReefLine, an ambitious new project that aims to occupy seven miles of seabed within shouting distance of the sands. The ReefLine aims to one day create an enormous, art-studded underwater playland, including a sculpture park, snorkel trail and hybrid reef.

One of the first pieces of this project, Miami Reef Star – a gigantic 90ft star that will eventually be visible to landing aircraft descending over the waters – will be on exhibition during Art Basel Miami Beach. Set up in prototype on Miami Beach itself, it will be a part of Star Compass, a series of three large-scale installations curated by Ximena Caminos and Dodie Kazanjian. In addition to Reef Star, Star Compass will also include The Great Elephant Migration, a work consisting of 100 life-sized sculptures of elephants, and Voile/Toile – Toile/Voile by French conceptual artist Daniel Buren, which will stage an enormous sailboat race.
Miami Reef Star will be composed of dozens of smaller stars, each itself serving multiple functions as hybrid coral reef, a home for fish and microorganisms, and an eye-catching site-specific sculpture. “There’s a massive amount of engineering that went into this,” said artist Carlos Betancourt, the creator of Miami Reef Star. “We’re working with marine biologists, scientists from the University of Miami … we’ve learned intensely about this.”

Reef Star plays on the form of starfish, with individual stars offering whimsical shapes that feel soft, playful and organic. When placed together they form a large star shape, which Caminos, founder and artistic director of The ReefLine, sees as an essential metaphor. “Before all this technology transformed our lives, humans used to sail the seas looking at stars and being guided by stars,” Caminos said. “To me the stars are like a metaphor that we need a new north.”

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[Nigrum Cattus]

1. Waste of $$$

https://www.wusf.org/environment/2022-03-16/south-floridas-coral-reef-is-being-overfished-nearly-a-dozen-species-are-nearing-unsustainable-numbers
The water will be empty of most wildlife - Just build it on land