Cancún, Mexico

Museo Subacuático de Arte

Underwater art project will double as a massive artificial coral reef to help regenerate the damaged ecosystem.

The Museo Subacuatico de Arte de Cancun (the Museum of Underwater Art in Cancun) is a large-scale project by artist Jason deCaires Taylor and overseen by director Jaime Gonzales Cano of the nearby National Park.

Located off the coast of Mexico, the project will be comprised of more than 400 life-size sculptures that will form a massive artificial coral reef in the clear, shallow waters that can be easily reached by divers, snorkelers and those who float over in glass-bottomed boats. The entire project is designed to promote marine life and increase biodiversity in the waters.

By serving as a tourist attraction, the sculptures will also help to raise awareness among Cancun’s visitors about existing reef habitats and their plight. The project was designed to resemble humans to showcase their effect on the environment. The National Marine Park in Cancun currently brings in over 750,000 visitors each year.

The first three sculptures from the project were installed in November 2009 and proved a huge success. They were placed carefully in a section of the waters that has been hit repeatedly by hurricanes and tropical storms, leaving an ecosystem in need of regeneration and redevelopment. The rest of the sculptures will be installed before the end of 2010.

Going forward, El Arte de Conservacion (The Art of Conservation) will be the museum’s motto and it will place a special emphasis on demonstrating the interaction between environmental science, humanity and art.

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