Miami Beach puts the art in offshore artificial reef : NPR

MIAMI — In the warehouse, Colin Foord is the doting father overseeing a coral nursery.

Its creatures are a species of soft coral called gorgonians. “They are a fundamentally important part of the coral reef habitats of the Caribbean and Florida,” he says.

Foord cares for more than 2,000 tiny soft coral specimens growing in several large seawater tanks. In each, snails and hermit crabs help protect it from algae. There are sea fans, sea whips and other species, some of which will eventually grow up to six feet tall when they are transplanted to a major new project that is starting to take shape in the Atlantic Ocean off Miami Beach.

When everything is ready, “Rifline” there will be a seven-mile-long artificial reef within walking distance of the beach. It is an art installation, restoration of the island's coral habitat, and an underwater tourist attraction. It is planned to extend along the entire length of Miami Beach. The reef will consist of a series of art installations and sculptures cast from marine concrete.

Colin Foord carefully cares for more than 2,000 tiny soft corals growing in several large seawater tanks. Soon they will be transplanted onto underwater concrete sculptures.

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Food's passion for cultivating corals—colorful colonies of tiny animals that form vast underwater reefs—is rooted in both science and art. He is one of the founders “Coral Morphology”. an arts and science group dedicated to researching and documenting coral reefs.

In his laboratory, he collects and grows corals that will be transplanted into the Reefline project. In a few years, the underwater concrete sculpture garden will transform into a colorful living coral reef. “It will only be in 15 to 20 feet of water, about 700 feet off Miami Beach,” he says. “So anyone with a mask and fins can go out there and see it with their own eyes, even without a boat.”

The origins of Reefline began several years ago when Foord spoke with art curator Jimena Caminos. Caminos, originally from Argentina, calls himself cultural filler. She oversaw projects that used art to revitalize neighborhoods in Buenos Aires And Miami Beach.

She's taking the idea overseas to develop an ecotourism attraction she half-jokingly calls public fish housing. “We give them new homes for free, gorgeous artistic penthouses under the sea where they can thrive,” she says. “After all, they are not so different from us. They need a home too.”

Reefline artistic director Jimena Caminos calls herself a cultural creator.

Best regards, Rifline

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Reefline is funded in part by the City of Miami Beach through a $5 million bond approved by voters. Caminos, the project's artistic director, is leading a campaign to raise another $6 million to fund its first phase.

It will start this month. This will be an installation of 22 cars cast from concrete and located in an underwater traffic jam. “The machines… have the perfect morphology for planting corals,” she says. “Cars are like flower pots for corals. They are perfect.”

This piece of Reefline is the work of Leandro Ehrlich, one of several internationally renowned artists involved in the project. He says the corals, once transplanted, will transform the underwater sculptures. “I think cars will eventually disappear under the coral,” says Ehrlich. “And I think that's really fantastic.”

The Reefline project will essentially give Miami Beach back what it once had. Until the 1970s, the island had an offshore coral reef. Over time, it was covered with sand brought to replenish the beach. Foord says, “Reefline will be able to…renew and recreate what came before.” For the new artificial reef, Foord plans to use locally harvested resilient corals that can withstand disease and rising ocean temperatures.

Artistic director Jimena Caminos believes one of the “Miami Reef Star” sculptures could one day become a symbol of the city.

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Caminos expects the seven-mile project to take at least a decade to complete. Part of the project will be an onshore marine education center that will educate visitors about the planet's endangered coral reefs. She says the underwater sculptures, covered in coral, are designed to be visible from the air when people fly into Miami. She hopes that one of the next installations – a constellation of 57 giant sculpted starfish – might even one day become a symbol of the city.