Textile taxonomies: The Institute For Figuring creates a ’Crochet Coral Reef’ in NY
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'.
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
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
Vipp’s Scandinavian guesthouse offers a sleek setting amid a wild landscape
Vipp Cold Hawaii is a Scandinavian guesthouse designed by architecture studio Hahn Lavsen in Denmark’s Thy National Park
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Aston Martin DBX707 SUV is updated with a new interior and infotainment
The new Aston Martin DBX707 has better tech, better design but the same raw power, keeping its spot at the top of the ultra-SUV tree
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Dark watches show it’s time to embrace an inky palette
Discover new dark watches from brands including Audemars Piguet, Omega, Chanel and Tudor
By Hannah Silver Published
-
The cosmos meets art history in Vivian Greven’s New York exhibition
Vivian Greven’s ‘When the Sun Hits the Moon’, at Perrotin in New York City, is the artist’s first solo exhibition in the USA
By Emily McDermott Published
-
The Met’s ‘The Real Thing: Unpacking Product Photography’ dissects the avant-garde in early advertising
A new exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York explores the role of product photography and advertising in shaping the visual language of modernism
By Zoe Whitfield Published
-
Tony Notarberardino’s Chelsea Hotel Portraits preserve a slice of bygone New York life
‘Tony Notarberardino: Chelsea Hotel Portraits, 1994-2010’, on show at New York’s ACA Galleries, is the photographer’s ode to the storied hotel he calls home and its eclectic clientele
By Hannah Silver Published
-
‘LA Gun Club’: artist Jane Hilton on who’s shooting who
‘LA Gun Club’, an exhibition by Jane Hilton at New York’s Palo Gallery, explores American gun culture through a study of targets and shooters
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Detroit Institute of Arts celebrates Black cinema
‘Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898-1971’ at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) brings lost or forgotten films, filmmakers and performers to a contemporary audience
By Anne Soward Published
-
BLUM marks 30 years of Japanese contemporary art in America
BLUM will take ‘Thirty Years: Written with a Splash of Blood’ to its New York space in September 2024, continuing its celebration of Japanese contemporary art in America
By Timothy Anscombe-Bell Published
-
Todd Gray’s sculptural photography collages defy dimension, linearity and narrative
In Todd Gray’s New York exhibition, he revisits his 40-year archive, fragmented into elaborated frames that open doors for new readings
By Osman Can Yerebakan Published
-
Frieze LA 2024 guide: the art, gossip and buzz
Our Frieze LA 2024 guide includes everything you need to know and see in and around the fair
By Renée Reizman Published