Located 15 meters beneath the surface, the contemporary Museo Atlantico will feature approximately 300 eco-friendly sculptures as well as an underwater botanical garden filled with sculptural hybrids of people and native Lanzarote plants. One of the most striking installations is ‘The Raft of Lampedusa,’ a sunken boat carrying 13 refugees. The artwork is a modern interpretation of Théodore Géricault’s 1818 French Romanticist oil painting ‘The Raft of Medusa’ that depicts the horrific scene following the wreckage of the French naval frigate Méduse.
The Museo Atlantico’s main installation is ’The Rubicon,’ which comprises a group of 35 people—the figures are inspired by Lanzarote citizens, many of who wield smartphones and electronics to symbolize the “Instagram generation”— walking towards a wall, described by the curators as “a point of no return or a portal to another world.”
Related: Egypt hopes to build the world’s first underwater museum in Alexandria
These magnificent underwater pieces aren’t Taylor’s first installations. As a British artist, diver, and naturalist, he has been creating underwater art for over a decade. His largest-scale work to date can be found at Museo Subacuático de Arte, the world’s first underwater museum, which features The Silent Evolution, a piece with approximately 500 statues submerged 26 feet in the Caribbean off the coast of Cancun, Mexico. Cast in pH-neutral marine cement, each statue can last for up to 300 years and support multiple forms of life, attracting the growth of coral and other creatures.
The Museo Atlantico will be open to visitors starting February 25, 2016 and will be accessible to snorkelers and divers.
+ Museo Atlantico
Images via Jason deCaires Taylor
