SOUTH BEACH, Fla. — The ReefLine project’s work continued on Tuesday, about 600 feet off the coast of Miami Beach. The nonprofit organization aims to have four art installations that will serve as artificial reefs for a public underwater park.
The nonprofit runs the Miami Native Coral Lab to cultivate 2,200 corals. It also commissioned artists to create the designs to be 3-D printed in marine-grade concrete, so divers can place screw-like bases for the transplant.
Three out of the four underwater art installations that aim to restore the coral reef barrier were named “Concrete Coral,” “The Miami Reef Star,” and “Heart of Okeanos.” The fourth is for the Blue Arts Award winner.
“The ReefLine would not be possible without our community and the leaders of Miami Beach, so it is so special to be out here with our mayors, our commissioners, and our supporters,” Brandi Reddick, ReefLine’s executive director, said on Tuesday during a beachside event.
Leandro Erlich, a conceptual artist from Argentina, recreated a version of his “Order of Importance,” an installation of 66 life-size cars made out of sand that he displayed on the beach, near Lincoln Road, during Art Basel Miami Beach 2019.
“Concrete Coral” will be smaller with 22 life-size cars. On Monday, a worker used a crane off the coast of South Beach’s South of Fifth neighborhood to start submerging the car-shaped sculptures by Erlich, who was born in Buenos Aires. By Tuesday, there were 11 underwater. The other 11 will be submerged on Oct. 27 and Oct. 28.
As the project continues, Puerto Rican artists Carlos Bentancourt and Alberto Latorre, who is based in Miami’s Little River neighborhood, collaborated for “The Miami Reef Star.” Petroc Sesti, a British artist of Italian descent, worked on “Heart of Okeanos.”
It’s all a dream come true for Colin Foord, a marine biologist and artist who worked on the coral cultivation; Shohei Shigematsu, an architect who worked on the master plan; and Ximena Caminos, the nonprofit’s founder and artistic director.
The Blue Arts Award nominations closed in June. The preliminary proposals’ deadline was in September, and the announcement of the Blue Arts Award shortlist will be in December.
After a Winter 2025-26 artist residency, the deadline for the final proposals will be in the Spring, and the winner will be announced in the Summer.
The ReefLine’s project had support from the city’s general obligation bond, the Miami-Dade County Risk and Resilience Tech Hub, the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, the Knight Foundation, and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.
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