AssetID: 55022842
Headline: Twenty-Two Cars Sunk Off Miami Beach Aim To Restore Coral Reef
Caption: WORDS BYLINE: Hayley Chamberlain Twenty-two full-scale cars will be submerged under the ocean in an effort to rejuvenate coral in Miami's oceans. In October, the vehicles will be submerged as part of a dramatic new artwork – and climate intervention – called Concrete Coral. Created by Argentine artist Leandro Erlich, the installation will resemble a surreal underwater traffic jam, with each car cast in marine-grade concrete from 3D-printed moulds. But these submerged sculptures are not simply for show. They will double as infrastructure for a new coral reef, with live corals seeded onto the vehicles using a patented attachment system known as Coral Lok. The aim is to accelerate reef development, boost biodiversity and provide a natural breakwater to protect Miami’s shoreline from rising seas. The car installation marks the first phase of The ReefLine, a multi-year project that will transform seven miles of seabed into a hybrid reef, snorkel trail and public art park. Conceived by cultural entrepreneur Ximena Caminos and masterplanned by architecture firm OMA with Shohei Shigematsu, the project is billed as both an environmental lifeline and an artistic landmark. Around 2,200 corals are already being cultivated for the project at The ReefLine’s Miami Native Coral Lab, led by marine biologist Colin Foord. The long-term ambition is to plant one million corals, restoring part of the Great Florida Reef – the only living coral barrier reef in the continental US, and one that has been in sharp decline since the 1980s due to bleaching, disease and rising sea levels. Future phases will expand the project into a cultural corridor of large-scale underwater installations. Among them is Miami Reef Star, a 90-foot structure by artists Carlos Betancourt and Alberto Latorre, made up of dozens of interlocking stars that function as both sculpture and reef habitat. Visible to aircraft descending over Miami, a prototype will be unveiled during Art Basel. Other works include Heart of Okeanos by British artist Petroc Sesti, inspired by the anatomy of a blue whale, and modules designed by Japanese architect Shohei Shigematsu that will eventually form a “living breakwater”. Funded in part by a $5m bond approved by Miami voters in 2022, The ReefLine has been positioned as a symbol of Miami’s ambitions to be not only a frontline city in the climate crisis but also a centre of climate solutions. Caminos hopes the project will one day become as synonymous with Miami as the Empire State Building is with New York or Big Ben with London. "Art has the power to tap into someone’s emotions, and I hope that The ReefLine will inspire," she said. "The oceans are our heritage, and they are dying in silence because they don’t have a voice. Messages of hope are needed – and this is one of them."
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