For both the conservation and preservation of marine ecologies and in the ability to educate the world about the health of the oceans, sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor believes his underwater “museums” have an essential role to play in fostering care and understanding of marine ecologies.
The Museum of Underwater Sculpture Ayia Napa (MUSAN)
The Museum of Underwater Sculpture Ayia Napa (MUSAN) is an underwater forest, the first of its kind in the world. Consisting of over 93 artworks some of which are in the form of trees, others which are figurative in nature. The artworks, in particular those which represent trees, are designed to attract marine life on a large scale and as such will develop organically. These installations are placed at various depths from the sea floor to its surface, laid out to resemble a path through a dense underwater forest. Some of the tree forms float just beneath the surface so that the whole structure provides a complex environment for marine life at all levels.
The sculptural forest will attract a wide variety of marine life
Marine life in the Mediterranean Sea has been seriously depleted over the last 20 years. The area in which the museum will be sited is currently a barren stretch of sand within a marine protected area. The sculptural forest made from inert pH neutral materials will attract a wide variety of marine flora and fauna. It will be sited within 200m of the Aiya Napa coastline and be accessible to both divers and snorkellers.
Source: underwatersculpture.com
children have become more excluded from the wild places that once existed
Among the sculpted trees children can be seen playing. They remind us of our need for the natural world as a place to explore, discover and fire our imaginations. Over the last 50 years children have become more excluded from the wild places that once existed. The forest children, camera in hand as they play hide-and-seek in the woods, point their lenses at the human race. They hope for a future in which the mystery and magic of nature will return. The need to re-wild our oceans is as pressing as the need to re-establish our connection to the natural world.
Source: underwatersculpture.com
Eventually the work of nature will supplant the work of the artist
All of de Caires Taylor’s works are part of an eco-art movement in which the artwork interacts with its surroundings and evolves in unpredictable ways. There is no final product, but an ever-changing seascape. Eventually the work of nature will supplant the work of the artist. The sculpted trees and the children that play amongst them will be consumed and colonised by marine biomass, providing food and shelter for a variety of creatures but importably reminding us that we are natural ourselves.
Source: underwatersculpture.com
The art history behind Museum of Underwater Sculpture Ayia Napa (MUSAN)
In 1968, the Virginia Dwan Gallery in New York hosted a ground breaking exhibition called EARTH WORKS that redefined the art world as it was known. This exhibition took art into new fields of materials, locations and scale, as the artworks it exhibited were built in and from the natural environment, but it did not necessarily include environmentalist responsibility. This came to be known as Earthworks or Land Art.
The introduction of art that engages with, and addresses social issues such as poverty, addiction, capitalism or equal rights (to name a very few) brought forward another new field of artistic expression, where art has become a form of activism. We currently exist in a time of great environmental damage, where the destructive activities of industry and the daily consumptive habits of individuals, wreak environmental havoc on our planet.
Each day, habitats are destroyed, whole species are lost and climate change alters the living conditions across the world. Small changes can be made that can ultimately have a big impact, the first step of which is bringing about environmental awareness of the conditions of the various ecosystems around the globe.
Source: UnderwaterSculpture.com
Environment, Art, Activism, and the thought that went into every detail
In this current heightened climate of global environmental awareness, a new form of art that maintains aesthetics (in a traditional sense) but is also conceptually-based, aims to raise awareness of the broad health of the environment or highlight specific concerns. Building on the foundations laid out by the Land Artists, a new generation of artists has emerged that place environmentalism at the forefront of their practice, each with unique concerns and ways of addressing these concerns to draw the attention of the viewer. The art of Jason deCaires Taylor is situated within this emerging environmental paradigm of art, taking the viewer to the depths of the ocean.
Among the many strengths of art, is the ability to introduce the viewer to new ideas and thoughts. However, to be an artwork that is active in bringing about positive change, it must be more than thought provoking. Taylor’s installations provide wide reaching benefits on many levels. They are infused with complex concepts and social commentary while working with and enhancing the marine environments they are placed in.
Whole coral reefs are subject to bleaching through rising sea water temperatures, changes in acidity, pollution from agricultural chemicals and removal of key species by over fishing, resulting in the destruction of entire marine habitats, and prompting initiatives like artificial reefs to be produced.
Taylor’s artworks are essentially artificial reefs, formed of carefully manufactured sculptures installed at various locations around the world. Each sculpture is created using non-toxic, pH neutral marine grade cement, free from harmful pollutants, becoming an integral part of the local ecosystem. The cement is highly durable, with a rough texture that encourages coral larvae to attach and thrive, while nooks and dark cubbyholes formed of folds of clothing provide homes for fish and crustaceans. The timing of installation is significant to ensure they are in place downstream before the larval coral spawning occurs, yet not so early that other sea life colonises it before the coral can take hold.
Source: UnderwaterSculpture.com
placement of sculptures is further carefully considered to maximise positive environmental impact
In many cases deCaires Taylor’s sculptures are placed away from existing reefs often in areas of barren sandbanks to boost diversity, but also to draw tourists away from the delicate ecosystems and fragile corals of existing reefs, where divers may do more harm than good with their well-intentioned curiosity.
All of these careful considerations go into each of deCaires Taylor sculptural installations, yet there are further benefits to his artificially created sculptural reefs, as while each work is produced in consultation with marine scientists to maximise their impact, the scientists themselves can study and monitor the development of a functioning ecosystem from its very beginning through to becoming well established.
There are also economic benefits as they can provide alternative employment for local fisherman working as museum guides to bring visitors to the underwater galleries either deep sea diving, snorkelling or in glass-bottomed boats. Entrance fees to the sculpture parks also provide crucial funding for further marine conservation efforts and coastal patrols to enforce protective laws.
Source: UnderwaterSculpture.com
An Underwater Art “Museum”?
Visiting deCaires Taylor’s underwater museums allows visitors the opportunity to broaden their minds and educate themselves on fields that are outside their daily lives, and experience samples of worlds beyond their own in a safe and non-destructive manner. For marine ecologies, this is a significant benefit as they are an environment that most people will only experience briefly while holidaying, if at all.
Describing these collections of underwater sculptures as a museum highlights another conceptual layer of Taylor’s works. Museums house collections of objects that the everyday person may not usually see in their lifetime, yet behind the scenes museums involve research into different cultures and preservation of objects from ages past or foreign lands. In this way, the underwater museums are no different, as Taylor states:
“We call it a museum for a very important reason. Museums are places of preservation, conservation and education. They’re places where we keep objects of great value to us, where we value them simply for being themselves.” Ted Talk.
As deCaires Taylor describes, in both the conservation and preservation of marine ecologies and in the ability to educate the world about the health of the oceans, his underwater museums have an essential role to play in fostering care and understanding of marine ecologies.
Because of the brevity of most people’s exposure to our ocean environments, the concerns of the oceans fall from the forethought of people’s minds. Therefore, exposure of a wider audience to marine ecologies combined with the educative function of galleries, encourages prolonged thought on the condition of the environment and the role that humans can play in ensuring its continued health, or indeed its destruction.
Over the past few decades, we have lost over 40% of our natural coral reefs. The World Resources Institute projects that 90% of coral reefs will be in danger by 2030, and all of them by 2050.
The significance of these museums is highlighted in the creation of the world’s first underwater sculpture park, which was founded and constructed by deCaires Taylor in 2006 and is recognised as one of the top 25 Wonders of the World by National Geographic.
Source: UnderwaterSculpture.com
The Human Face of Marine Ecologies
deCaires Taylor underwater museums appear in locations all over the world, reflecting the global concerns that affect underwater ecologies. While the groups of sculptures can be conceptually viewed as a museum, each individual sculpture contains its own personal message. A conceptual social commentary is made through the figures included in each installation.
Before they gradually become obscured through the growth of marine life as the reef claims them, the figures show such groups as business professionals, a couple recognisably taking a selfie, or a man ensconced on a couch. All of these are indicative of the daily actions of humanity, living above the waves, often oblivious to the impact each of their actions can have on the environment. We can see ourselves in the everyday faces of these sculptural peoples that are entombed beneath the waves; the underwater context allowing an atmosphere of otherworldly reflection.
The figures are part of an underwater realm that brings forth fantasy and the imagination. Visitors to the various underwater museums who are able to sink themselves beneath the waves can experience the reality of marine life more directly and intimately that a traditional white-walled museum.
Unconstrained by gravity their bodies are subjected to the feelings of weightlessness and the cool of the water, while the sounds are muted and visibility reduced and improved with the shifting tide and environmental conditions. These works truly allow you to step out of your daily life and enter an entirely different reality, charged with the notion that it is a reality under threat.
Source: UnderwaterSculpture.com
deCaires Taylor’s works share a sense of calm and peace, and an ambience of mystery
Each artwork is brought alive through its union with the biological marine life that attaches to it and thrives. There is a distinct interactivity between the living organisms and the sculptures. The various forms of ocean life complete the sculptures, transforming them from concrete to textured, living organisms like the figures in Viccisitudes; a name that reflects the changing conditions of the planet. In this installation a ring of people stand holding hands as the ocean takes them, coving their bodies with motley of coloured pinks, vibrant oranges, greens and greys. These colours shift with the changing filtered light that shines down upon them creating a patterned circlet on the ocean floor. These changing colours and tones and the gentle play of light are qualities that all of deCaires Taylor share, and it gives them a sense of calm and peace, and an ambience of mystery.
Source: UnderwaterSculpture.com
deCaires Taylor installations carry environmental messages through art
No two visits to any given sculpture will be quite the same. The changing formations of the sea surface affect the filtered light that scatters down to the ocean floor and depth alters the visual spectrum of colour that can be seen. Spawning and other ocean cycles also change the dynamic of these artworks, as it also affect the visibility of the waters while bringing forth new life to seed the sculptures, which may take hold and grow.
The appearance of each sculpture is in many ways ephemeral as the coral grows and spreads out and other marine life, including fish and crustaceans inhabit the artworks, moving from a clean cement sculpture untouched by marine life to a mature coral reef and functioning ecosystem. As each artwork grows and becomes complete the original forms become obscured and a frequent visitor may mark the passage of time by these gradual changes.
deCaires Taylor installations bring environmental messages to a viewer already primed with an interest and passion in our oceans, as well as highlighting these environments to land-goers by calling attention to them through art. The movement of artworks from the gallery to the oceans represents a new frontier for both the arts and continued health of marine ecologies.
Source: UnderwaterSculpture.com
The installation encourages the viewer to enter the water and experience the sculptures directly
Like the leap from gallery to the environment that occurred with EARTH WORKS, the oceans represent a new, contemporary frontier of artistic experimentation with its own challenges, particularly with artworks that endeavour to be remedial and thus need to be both non-toxic to the environment while promoting marine growth and health. For marine ecology, the works draw the viewers’ attention to the ocean and its continued health, and also encourage the viewer to experience it directly yet non-destructively and enter the ocean ecology to view deCaires Taylor’s sculptures directly.
While these artworks can be viewed through exquisite underwater photography, a tribute to deCaires Taylor own photographic skills, it is only by immersing yourself in the ocean and becoming part of the environment that the sublime awe and presence can be experienced, and a full appreciation of the delicate, threatened marine ecosystems achieved.
Source: UnderwaterSculpture.com
Who is Jason deCaires Taylor?
Jason deCaires Taylor (b. 1974) is a sculptor, environmentalist and professional underwater photographer. Taylor graduated from the London Institute of Arts in 1998 with a BA Honours in Sculpture. Taylor became the first of a new generation of artists to shift the concepts of the Land art movement into the realm of the marine environment.
His permanent site-specific sculptural works are predominately exhibited underwater in submerged and tidal marine environments, exploring modern themes of conservation and environmental activism. Over the past 15 years, Taylor has been one of the first to consider the underwater realm as a public art space and is best known for his numerous large-scale underwater “Museums” and “Sculpture Parks”.
Taylor gained international notoriety in 2006 with the creation of the world’s first underwater sculpture park, situated off the west coast of Grenada in the West Indies. Moilinere Bay Underwater Sculpture Park is now listed as one of the Top 25 Wonders of the World by National Geographic. The park was instrumental in the government declaring the site a National Marine Protected Area. Taylor has gone on produce 1,000+ public terrestrial and underwater sculptures worldwide, which are visited by thousands of visitors each week.
Other major projects include MUSA (Mexico), Ocean Atlas (Bahamas), Museo Atlantico (Spain), The Rising Tide (UK), Nest (Indonesia), Nexus (Norway), Coralarium (Maldives), Ocean Siren (Australia) The Coral Greenhouse (Australia), and Cannes Underwater Museum (France).
The works are constructed using pH neutral, environmentally sensitive materials to instigate natural growth and the subsequent changes intended to explore the aesthetics of decay, rebirth and metamorphosis. Taylor’s pioneering public art projects are not only examples of successful marine conservation, but works of art that seek to encourage environmental awareness, instigate social change and lead us to appreciate the breathtaking natural beauty of the underwater world.
He has received numerous sculpture and photography awards, is a member of The Royal Society of Sculptors, an Ocean Ambassador to DAN (Divers Alert Network), an Ocean Exemplar of The World Ocean Observatory and a featured TED speaker. In 2014 Taylor was awarded The Global Thinker by Foreign Policy, described as the Jacque Cousteau of the Art world.
Source: UnderwaterSculpture.com
10 WAYS YOU CAN HELP SAVE OUR OCEANS
Oceans cover 71% of the planet and are home to important species and ecosystems that we rely on for food, livelihoods, climate regulation and more. But the oceans need our help. Saving the oceans can sometimes feel like an overwhelming task, but if we all pitch in, we can make a big difference. Here are 10 lifestyle choices that – when adopted – can help protect and restore our oceans for future generations.