{"id":66699,"date":"2025-12-01T17:12:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/66699\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T17:12:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T17:12:11","slug":"tour-leandro-erlichs-underwater-traffic-jam-of-concrete-coral-cars-at-miami-beachs-reefline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/66699\/","title":{"rendered":"tour leandro erlich’s underwater \u2018traffic jam\u2019 of concrete coral cars at miami beach’s reefline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leandro Erlich submerges \u2018concrete coral\u2019 along miami beach<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

With all twenty concrete<\/a> \u2018cars<\/a>\u2018 now parked twenty feet below the ocean\u2019s surface, ReefLine introduces its first fully deployed artwork just in time for Miami Art Week 2025. The seven-mile underwater sculpture<\/a> park and hybrid reef<\/a> is being conceived by Ximena Caminos and masterplanned with OMA \/ Shohei Shigematsu<\/a> off the coast of Miami Beach<\/a>. Leandro Erlich<\/a>\u2018s underwater<\/a> Concrete Coral installation transforms the traffic jam, a symbol of Miami Art Week, into a living underwater habitat which marks a milestone in an ambitious long-term plan to merge public artwork<\/a> and accessible ocean activism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Leandro Erlich\u2019s concept is a submerged \u2018traffic jam,\u2019 converting engines of past pollution into vessels of regeneration. The concept is both a warning and a proposition. \u2018Once carriers of pollution and speed, they now become vessels of regeneration,\u2019 the artist notes. \u2018What once drove us away from nature becomes a stage for its return.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

From December 1st \u2014 5th, Miami Art Week visitors can encounter Concrete Coral through a series of on-water and on-land activations designed to bridge the beach with the underwater site \u2014 see designboom\u2019s guide to Miami Art Week 2025 here<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"miami
Concrete Coral, image courtesy Brittany Weber<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

fabricating the reefline: 3D-printing and marine-grade concrete<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each of the life-sized concrete cars lurking along Miami Beach\u2019s ReefLine<\/a> weighs up to sixteen tons and began as a digitally modeled form routed into a large 3D-printed mold. This strategy allowed Leandro Erlich<\/a>\u2019s signature uncanny realism to withstand long-term ocean exposure. The sculptures are cast from marine-grade, pH-neutral concrete, custom-engineered to promote coral attachment and withstand the forces of storm-prone waters off South Florida.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Structural engineering by Cummins Cederberg<\/a> ensured each car\u2019s embedded base remains securely anchored to the seafloor. Before deployment, the system was tested at the University of Miami\u2019s SUSTAIN Laboratory<\/a>, where the structures endured simulated hurricane-strength wave conditions. Only after passing these evaluations were the works green-lit for immersion and delivered offshore by Kearns Construction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"miami
images \u00a9 Christopher Uriarte<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

deployment: a new underwater park 780 feet off Miami Beach<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The final ReefLine installation sits 780 feet off the Miami shoreline between 4th and 5th Streets, arranged in a snaking configuration that echoes the choreography of concrete cars. Over the next several months, the cars will be seeded with thousands of coral fragments cultivated at ReefLine\u2019s Miami Native Coral Lab<\/a> using Coral Lok\u2122, a patented system that secures corals quickly while minimizing stress. These octocorals, cultivated for resilience, will branch upward like a forest reclaiming a deserted highway.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Visually, they will create the appearance of a forest overgrowing a traffic jam as nature reclaims it as its own,\u2019 says ReefLine Director of Science Colin Foord.<\/p>\n

\"miami
image \u00a9\u00a0Nola Schoder<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

public access during miami art week<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Andr\u00e9s Reisinger\u2019s Meditation Buoy<\/a> marks the site: A new large-scale, pastel-toned Meditation Buoy by digital-physical artist Andr\u00e9s Reisinger<\/a> rises from the ocean surface above the submerged cars. The buoy doubles as a navigational point and a contemplative marker, turning the seascape into a meditative zone accessible to swimmers and paddleboarders.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

BMW x SipaBoards<\/a> electric paddleboards: Visitors can travel to the site aboard co-branded BMW x SipaBoards electric paddleboards, available for pickup at ReefLine\u2019s headquarters on 9th Street. The devices offer a quiet, low-impact way to traverse the water and observe the buoy\u2019s position before diving or snorkeling below.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Floating Marine Learning Center: ReefLine\u2019s Floating Marine Learning Center \u2014 a hybrid dive boat and research deck \u2014 anchors near the artwork throughout Miami Art Week. The platform hosts: coral-restoration workshops; drop-in conversations with artists, divers, and scientists; daily educational sessions led by the University of Miami\u2019s Rescue a Reef program; two-hour excursions departing from Miami Beach Marina; guided discussions on art and marine futures by artist Leandro Erlich and oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Visitors can book excursions directly through ReefLine\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"miami
image \u00a9\u00a0Nola Schoder<\/p>\n

\"miami
image \u00a9\u00a0Nola Schoder<\/p>\n