Colourful crocheted yarn blends with vibrant plastic waste to form Crochet Coral Reef – an ongoing project by sisters Margaret and Christine Wertheim and their Los Angeles–based organisation, The Institute For Figuring.
Now in its tenth year, the sisters are celebrating the anniversary of the project with an exhibition titled 'Crochet Coral Reef: TOXIC SEAS', curated by Samantha De Tillio for New York's Museum of Arts and Design (MAD).
Born in the Wertheim’s living room in 2005, Crochet Coral Reef began as an effort to illustrate the connection between science and art, while also raising awareness for the consequences of global warming on living reefs. Since then, the project has continued to grow — expanding to cities and countries around the world.
The latest iteration brings together three key 'habitats', including a 'Bleached Reef' and a new 'Toxic Reef', representing dying corals. 'The Midden' is another section, constructed from four years’ worth of the Wertheims’ own domestic plastic trash, a response to human-made phenomena such as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
'If someone had said at the start that we’d still be crocheting corals ten years later I wouldn’t have believed it, but the project has developed in ways we didn’t expect,' Margaret Wertheim says. 'The biggest surprise has been how much taxonomic variety has emerged as we and our core group of "Reefers" worldwide have played with variations of the original algorithm.'
Using a discovery by Cornell University mathematician Dr Daina Taimina – that hyperbolic surfaces could be modelled via crochet – the Wertheims have developed a range of biological variations on the algorithm that fuse mathematics, biology and craft to produce a diverse array of coralline structures, an 'ever-evolving artificial ecology'.
Born in the Wertheim’s living room in 2005, Crochet Coral Reef began as an effort to illustrate the connection between science and art, while also raising awareness for the consequences of global warming on living reefs
'If someone had said at the start that we’d still be crocheting corals ten years later I wouldn’t have believed it, but the project has developed in ways we didn’t expect,' Margaret Wertheim says
Information
'Crochet Coral Reef: TOXIC SEAS' is on view until 22 January 2017. For more information, visit the MAD website
ADDRESS
MAD
2 Columbus Circle
New York, NY 10019
-
A new Athens gallery is a celebration of old and new, a stone's throw from the AcropolisNew Athens gallery Melas Martinos by Local Local is a contemporary art space, a stone's throw from the Acropolis, in the Greek capital's Monastiraki neighbourhood
-
Haute Couture Week A/W 2025: live updates from the Wallpaper* teamFrom 7-9 July, Haute Couture Week A/W 2025 arrives in Paris. Follow along for a first look at the shows, presentations and other fashion happenings, as seen by the Wallpaper* editors
-
Boundaries between art and life dissolve in Katherine Hubbard's intimate documentation of her mother's illnessIn 'The Great Room', Katherine Hubbard merges caregiving for her mother with an unflinching documentary of the process
-
‘Her pictures looked like pictures everybody knew were the truth’: Diane Arbus at the ArmoryMatthieu Humery curates more than 400 of Arbus’ photographs at New York’s Park Avenue Armory – every picture she was known to have printed
-
Mystic, feminine and erotic: the power of Penny Slinger’s bodies as landscapeArtist Penny Slinger continues her exploration of the sacred, surreal feminine in a Santa Monica exhibition, ‘Meeting at the Horizon’
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt was a jam-packed week for the Wallpaper* staff, entailing furniture, tech and music launches and lots of good food – from afternoon tea to omakase
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this weekThis week saw the Wallpaper* team jet-setting to Jordan and New York; those of us left in London had to make do with being transported via the power of music at rooftop bars, live sets and hologram performances
-
Photographer Geordie Wood takes a leap of faith with first film, DiversGeordie Wood delved into the world of professional diving in Fort Lauderdale for his first film
-
New book celebrates 100 years of New York City landmarks where LGBTQ+ history took placeMarc Zinaman’s ‘Queer Happened Here: 100 Years of NYC’s Landmark LGBTQ+ Places’ is a vital tribute to queer culture
-
A major Takashi Murakami exhibition sees the world in kaleidoscopic colourThe Cleveland Art Museum presents 'Takashi Murakami 'Stepping on the Tail of a Rainbow', exploring outrage and escapist fantasy
-
Ai Weiwei’s new public installation is coming soon to Four Freedoms State Park‘Camouflage’ by Ai Weiwei will launch the inaugural Art X Freedom project in September 2025, a new programme to investigate social justice and freedom
