Every year in October and November, Australia's Great Barrier Reef begins its annual spawning—first coastal coral species, where the waters are warmer, and then offshore corals, the main event.
Last year, this natural spectacle coincided with the spread of two new woolly colonies from the Crochet Coral Reef, a long-standing collaborative work of art between crafts and science, now at the Schlossmuseum, in Linz, Austria, and the Museum of Carnegie Art, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
To date, nearly 25,000 hookweavers around the world have created more than 50 reefs—both a praise and a plea for these ecosystems, which are threatened by climate change. The project also explores mathematical themes, as many living reef organisms biologically approximate the peculiar curvature of hyperbolic geometry.
Within the realm of two dimensions, geometry is concerned with the properties of points, lines, figures and surfaces: the Euclidean plane is flat and therefore shows zero curvature. In contrast, the surface of a sphere shows a constant positive curvature; at all points the surface bends inward towards itself. And a hyperbolic plane exhibits constant negative curvature; at all points, the surface curves away from itself. Reef life thrives on hyperbolism, so to speak; The curved structure of the coral surface maximizes nutrient intake and the nudibranchs propel themselves through the water with frilled ledges.
In the works of art, marine morphologies are modeled—hooked—with a verisimilitude abundant in loops. Hooked corals are abstract representations of nature, said Christine Wertheim, an artist and writer now retired from the California Institute of the Arts. Wertheim is the driving artistic force behind the project, which she created with Margaret Wertheim, her twin sister, a science writer. The Wertheims, Australians who live together in Los Angeles, created the original reef from their living room in 2005.
Coral Reef exhibitions at Crochet typically have two main components: The Wertheims provide an anchor with works from their collection. They also incorporate pieces from expert international collaborators. One is a “bleached reef,” reminiscent of corals stressed by rising sea temperatures; another, a “coral forest” made of yarn and plastic, laments the trash that pollutes reef systems.
Then, after an open call, volunteers crochet a series of specimens that become a “satellite reef,” assembled by a local curatorial team with the Wertheims’ guidance. Credit is given to all participants.
The largest satellite reef so far will be assembled in 2022 at the Frieder Burda Museum in Baden-Baden, Germany, with about 40,000 pieces of coral from about 4,000 contributors.
The Linz satellite reef brings together some 30 thousand pieces from 2 thousand hook weavers.
The Wertheims believe the project is proof that it's not always lone geniuses who create great art, but also communities. In the art world that is a radical idea, they noted, but in science, large collaborative projects and articles with thousands of authors are not unprecedented. In Pittsburgh, the show at the Carnegie Museum of Art and organized by Alyssa Velazquez, curatorial assistant for decorative arts and design, features a satellite reef produced by 281 hook knitters.
As the women wove loops of yarn, Velazquez watched the conversations: memories of time spent on local waterways, recycling habits, and the opportunity to knit something other than baby shoes. In that sense, the initiative represents “the creative potential for environmental dialogue and new ecological behaviors,” he said — invoking imaginative but concrete patterns of change.
By: SIOBHAN ROBERTS
The New York Times
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/7080748, IMPORTING DATE: 2024-01-22 18:52:03
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