400 Cement Sculptures Submerged Underwater (15 pics)

British sculptor Jason de Caires Taylor is about to give the curious traveler a unique reason to visit Mexico. He's created 400 cement sculptures for a new underwater museum in the National Marine Park of Cancun. In November, the installation, called The Silent Evolution, will open to the public and will be the world's largest museum of its kind.

It's called 'art with a purpose' because the sculptures will serve as an artificial reef. By constructing them from special cement, Taylor is helping to promote marine life and create areas for corals to flourish and marine creatures to breed. The sculptures will also help with the conservation of the natural corals by easing pressure on nearby natural reefs which receive half a million tourists flocking to those areas every year.

Interestingly, Taylor purposely decided to not create Maya-themed figures for the underwater museum. Instead, he wanted to show everyday people in everyday scenarios. "A lot of this is just celebrating normal people doing normal things," he says. "By taking everyday scenes and putting them underwater, you give them a completely new context, a whole life of their own."

The coolest part is that the sculptures' appearances will constantly change over time. "I have a whole team of underwater helpers that come along and do all the finishing for me," Taylor says. "The coral applies the paint. The fish supply the atmosphere. The water provides the mood. People ask me when it's going to be finished. This is just the beginning."

Will you visit Cancun to see this?

Jason de Caires Taylor and National Marine Park of Cancun

via [USA Today]

Related:
Mexico is Building the World's Largest Underwater Museum
Preview: Jason deCaires Taylor's Underwater Sculptures in Cancun, M...
Underwater Alien Sculptures - Jason de Caires: UK

Tags: Cement, Museum, Sculptures, Submerged, Underwater, art, for

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Comment by Nilda Mijares Poyer on November 18, 2010 at 12:09am: Great.

Comment by Ardith Ibañez Nishii on October 22, 2010 at 2:15am: this is brilliant!!! i would love to go and see this! coincidentally NPR had a piece about the project the other day. the sculptures are cast from real people! hence, the closed eyes. wouldn't want to plaster over someone's eyeballs! the artist chose people from various age groups and from all walks of life in the community... did i already say that this is brilliant?

Comment by Aleksey Khodakovskiy on October 18, 2010 at 2:11pm: any idea, why do all of them have closed eyes?

Comment by Marica on October 18, 2010 at 12:16pm: An underwater museum, very interesting concept...nice post Alice! ;)

Comment by sAm on October 18, 2010 at 10:40am: It nice that it's accessible by snorkel. I'd love to check this out!

Comment by Laura P on October 18, 2010 at 6:36am: Cool idea. I'd like to see how this pans our for the preservation of the coral in that area.

Comment by gamze seder on October 18, 2010 at 5:19am: Isn't it harmful for little animals there under the sand ?

Comment by Vinicius Betton on October 17, 2010 at 6:06pm: Wow!

Comment by Stephen M. Barrett on October 17, 2010 at 4:32pm: Very cool albeit just a little erie (not the great lake)

Comment by Pedro Costa Neves on October 17, 2010 at 3:11pm: Fantastic, would love to see it!