Crochet Coral Reef

In 2006, we posted about the Institute For Figuring's collaborative project to crochet a handmade coral reef. It's come a long way. The Crochet Coral Reef is on display at Santa Monica's Track 16 Gallery until February 21, along with the Toxic Reef, made from plastic trash. From the press release:

One of the acknowledged wonders of the natural world, the Great Barrier Reef stretches along the coast of Queensland Australia, in a riotous profusion of color and form unparalleled on our planet. But global warming and pollutants so threaten this fragile marvel that it may well be gone by the end of the century. In homage to the Great One, Christine and Margaret Wertheim of the Institute For Figuring have instigated a project to crochet a handmade reef, a woolly testimony that now engages thousands of women the world over.

Vast in scale, collective in construction, exquisitely detailed, the Crochet Reef is an unprecedented, hybridic, handicraft invocation of a natural wonder that has become, in itself, a new kind of wonder spawned from tens of thousands of hours of labor.

Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef (Thanks, Kirsten Anderson!)

[#1 posted by Anonymous , January 13, 2009 12:20 PM]

If you really love reefs, the Austrailian government is currently on a search for a candidate for what they call 'the best job in the world'. The job is the newly created position of 'Caretaker' of the Great Barrier Reef. The job comes with a salary of $150K and free lodging at a multi-million dollar oceanfont villa for a six-month contract. Sounds like a publicity stunt, but it's a job I wouldn't mind having.

[#2 posted by Pyrokinetic , January 13, 2009 12:57 PM]

Huh, Track 16 and Bergamot Station is five blocks from me. I should take the girlfriend over there. Thanks for the post!

[#3 posted by Justin France , January 13, 2009 4:15 PM]

Unfortunately this is the closest alot of people will ever get the the GBR.

The Australian gov't has essentially sentenced it to death, along with the Murray-Darling basin.

Garnaut Report, chptr 7.2

By mid century a no-mitigation case will likely lead to major declines in agricultural production across much of the country. This will affect our capacity to export food and create a growing reliance on food imports. An unmitigated future is likely to also see the mid century destruction of the Great Barrier Reef.

And while Australia isn't going down the "no-mitigation" route, we may as well be, with some very half-arsed targets for emissions. It is expected the the GBR will last no longer than mid-century.

Sorry if it's off topic, this speil is near and dear to me, and comes out whenever the GBR is mentioned.

[#4 posted by Marshall , January 13, 2009 5:46 PM]

This was on display last year at the Wignall Museum. I saw it and it was totally awesome - if you're able to see it while its at Bergamot, do so.