With rising sea ranges and warming temperatures threatening South Florida’s ecology, activists and innovators alike are in search of options that may each shield and restore what has been misplaced. In founding Reefline, the cultural entrepreneur Ximena Caminos grew to become a significant participant and driving pressure behind climate-focused motion within the area. An underwater sculpture park that can finally span seven miles, Reefline fuses artwork, science and conservation to revive coral and marine habitats. Quite a few artists have been commissioned to create sculptural underwater installations that can present construction for marine life to connect to and develop on, thereby attracting fish and supporting biodiversity.
A relative newcomer to Miami—Caminos initially moved to the town together with her then-husband, Alan Faena, because the hotelier was opening his first US outpost—the Argentine artist and curator has made an influence as each a cultural producer and fundraiser. Her path of the Faena Artwork programme as Faena was establishing its model definitively cemented the lodge as a cultural vacation spot. She launched Reefline in 2022 with a $5m grant from the Metropolis of Miami Seaside, a testomony to metropolis leaders’ religion in her.
Reefline is an 11-phase undertaking that can want round $40m to be absolutely realised and span Miami Seaside’s complete shoreline, however its first set up debuted within the lead-up to Miami Artwork Week. Leandro Erlich’s Concrete Coral is a submerged reincarnation of the regionally well-known sandcastle visitors jam the artist created on Miami Seaside throughout Artwork Week in 2019. A nod to the position automobiles play in harming the atmosphere, Erlich’s cluster of twenty-two concrete automobile sculptures is shut sufficient to shore that swimmers, snorkellers and scuba divers can expertise it. Future phases embody plans to understand Miami Reef Star, a sculpture by the Miami-based artist Carlos Betancourt and the architect Alberto Latorre, in 2026.
Just lately named the chief curator on the Pérez Artwork Museum Miami, José Carlos Diaz is again in his hometown after almost a decade away and sees Reefline as probably the most compelling tasks within the metropolis proper now.
Set up of a sculpture of a automobile, a part of Leandro Erlich’s Concrete Coral, the primary Reefline work
Photograph: Veronica Ruiz, courtesy of Reefline
The Artwork Newspaper: What attracts you to Reefline?
José Carlos Diaz: It’s groundbreaking. It’s taking artwork, combining it with science and actually making one thing for the individuals. There’s no gate-keeping—anybody can expertise it, whether or not you’re a diver, a swimmer or simply somebody who loves the seaside. It’s redefining what public artwork will be by inserting it underwater and utilizing it to create an ecosystem.
How does it differ from different public artwork tasks in Miami?
What’s actually particular is that it’s homegrown. If you happen to have a look at who’s behind it—Ximena Caminos, the curator Brandi Reddick, Carlos Betancourt, Alberto Latorre—these are Miami individuals. They reside and breathe this metropolis. The workforce didn’t herald outsiders to inform Miami how to do that. They mentioned: “We’re going to do that ourselves, as a result of we all know our neighborhood and atmosphere.” That sense of possession and authenticity makes it really feel actually of this place.
Erlich’s set up Concrete Coral contains 22 concrete automobiles and is an underwater reimagining of the Miami artist’s piece consisting of a sandcastle visitors jam on Miami Seaside throughout the metropolis’s 2019 Artwork Week
Photograph: Veronica Ruiz, courtesy of Reefline
Inform me concerning the first part, Leandro Erlich’s Concrete Coral. Why is it so compelling?
It’s an unimaginable piece. They’ve submerged 22 concrete automobiles simply off the coast of South Seaside, about 600ft out and 20ft under the floor. What’s superb is that the concrete is sustainable—it’s environmentally secure—and it’s designed to assist nurse corals. Scientists will truly anchor corals to the automobiles, creating a brand new habitat for marine life. So it’s not solely visually placing, it’s functionally restorative.
Why do you suppose the Reefline is a vital undertaking for Miami particularly?
Miami Seaside is on the entrance traces of sea-level rise and we hardly ever see tasks that unite science and artwork to deal with that actuality. The Reefline does that superbly. It’s not simply an Artwork Basel second—it’s a everlasting, dwelling work that grows and adjustments with time. For locals, it’s some extent of pleasure. For guests, it’s a glimpse into the way forward for how cities like ours can suppose creatively about local weather and tradition.
What do you suppose it represents for the way forward for public artwork?
It’s paving the way in which. At some point, there may be sculpture parks underwater all over the world—and it’ll have began right here, in Miami.
Reefline, at 4th Road, Miami Seaside
