MIAMI – What’s one of the most visible secrets in our community? The answer: coral reef. Locally mined, ground up and processed, fossilized coral and marine limestone is an integral part of almost every concrete building and street in Miami.
Three hyper-realistic projections of coral reef organisms will be displayed on high-profile buildings in Miami Beach to highlight the largely overlooked relationship between the city and its coral reefs.
“Our goal is to ‘encrust and colonize’ these buildings with colorful marine life, much like the rocks of the reef that they came from, and that they all might return to one day,” said Colin Foord, a marine biologist and the organizer of the project. “The projections will, in a way, resurrect the reef that is Miami Beach.”
The project called “Artificial Reef” by aquatic art duo Coral Morphologic, aims to literally illuminate Miami’s connection with the coral reefs that it owes its existence to. The projections will be seen on the walls of prominent buildings from Lincoln Road to Lummus Park. An accompanying solo show of Coral Morphologic’s multi-media works will take place at the Art Deco Welcome Center (1001 Ocean Drive). High-powered projectors will display video loops of native colorful reef life directly onto concrete and limestone.
“Most people simply don’t know that the cement used in constructing Miami’s buildings is largely composed of the pulverized fossils of coral and marine life that once colonized South Florida when it was submerged in millennia past,” said Foord.
There has long been a synergy between Miami and the ocean that continues to the present day and beyond. Foord states, “Coral reefs are without question the most colorful and ‘urban’ of all of Earth’s natural ecosystems. With ‘Artificial Reef’, we aim to reconnect the fluorescent spirit of the coral reef with the vibrant and fluorescent nature of the Miami Beach.”
And there’s good reason to remember Miami’s salty origins. “After all,” Foord adds, “our region was submerged under a shallow sea several times in the past 100,000 years.”
Locations
Title: ‘Cassiopeia’
Featured: Cassiopeia xamachana jellyfish
407 Building (west wall/clock tower)
407 Lincoln Rd.
Miami Beach, Fl 33139
Title: ‘Clytie’
Featured: Zoanthus sp. zoanthids
Art Deco Welcome Center (north, fossilized coral limestone wall).
1001 Ocean Drive
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Title: ‘Helios’
Featured: Tubastrea cocinnea coral
The Wolfsonian Museum (north wall)
1001 Washington Avenue
Miami Beach, FL 33139
Opening Reception
Friday, December 3rd, 2010 7PM-12AM
Art Deco Welcome Center Gallery
1001 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach
An opening reception will be held at The Art Deco Welcome Center located in the heart of Lummus Park. A selection of Coral Morphologic’s video works and screenscapes will be displayed on a series of HD screens in the art gallery. At the reception, Sumsun (Leaving Records) and Miami’s ANR will perform live ‘aquatic soundscapes’ to accompany Coral Morphologic’s works. A collage of Coral Morphologic’s natural history films, curated by Parisian video artist Jamie Harley, will be projected onto the musicians as they perform.
