{"id":40076966,"date":"2016-03-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/china-dialogue-ocean-staging.darkbluehq.com\/uncategorized\/739-underwater-sculpture-museum\/"},"modified":"2022-02-10T23:00:08","modified_gmt":"2022-02-10T17:30:08","slug":"739-underwater-sculpture-museum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/ocean\/739-underwater-sculpture-museum\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe\u2019s first underwater sculpture museum highlights plight of the ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"

Submerging an 80-tonne sculpture using a crane in the middle of the ocean is no mean feat. But the results \u201calways blow my mind\u201d, says British artist Jason deCaires Taylor.<\/p>\n

On the seabed off the coast of Lanzarote, a small Spanish Island, Taylor has created an extraordinary series of underwater artworks. Concrete figures and mundane objects from the earthly world are transformed as they become slowly colonised by coral, fish and crustaceans.<\/p>\n

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The sculptures are cast in pH-neutral marine cement and textured to encourage coral to grow creating a vast, artificial reef that pulses with life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we see the ocean we don\u2019t see the havoc we\u2019re wreaking,\u201d Taylor says. \u201cYet every day we pollute, dredge and destroy our oceans\u201d. He hopes his work will spread the message that oceans need protection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Overfishing and pollution are not the only problem. Oceans are on the front line of climate change: soaking up most of the heat<\/a> and much of the carbon dioxide building up in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels. This turns water acidic,\u00a0<\/a>killing coral and marine life. The impact is already evident in the rapid decline of coral reefs, oyster beds and kelp forests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t regard our oceans as sacred but we should,\u201d Taylor says.<\/p>\n