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Underwater Volkswagen Beetle sculpture. Credits: Sculpture: Jason deCaires Taylor. Photography: The-Stills LifeStyle Agency. MUSA Underwater Art Museum www.musamexico.org West Coast Marine National Park Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancun, Punta Nizuc.
Over the last few decades, people have used all kinds of junk to create artificial reefs — from old tires and concrete blocks to a 30,000-ton aircraft carrier. One of the most intriguing reefs, though, isn’t made from leftovers. Instead, it’s an art museum — a collection of about 500 sculptures off the coast of Cancún.
The Underwater Museum of Art began in 2009. One of its goals was to help preserve a natural reef nearby — the second-largest in the world — by pulling in some of the hundreds of thousands of people who visit the area each year.
The sculptures were created by a team led by Jason deCaires Taylor, a British artist who had already produced a smaller installation off the island of Grenada. They’re made of a special concrete that’s designed to encourage the growth of corals.
The works are divided into two galleries. One is about 12 feet deep, where it’s accessible to snorkelers, while the other is twice as deep.
The sculptures include hundreds of human figures in various positions. Some are standing and looking skyward, others are sitting or kneeling, and some have their heads stuck in the ground! Other works depict furniture, a house, and a Volkswagen Beetle.
Biologists aren’t sure whether the reef will help relieve the pressure on the natural reef. Yet the museum reef is already taking off. Many of the sculptures are disappearing beneath an encrusting layer of coral. And within a few years, most of them won’t even be recognizable — just pedestals of coral in the Caribbean Sea.
