Sunken Sculpture, a Different Beetle of Fish

Maybe we’re a long way away from the art for art’s sake days of yore, but one recent jaw-dropping initiative is promoting a whole other concept altogether for the fledgling millennium: art with an ecological purpose. Dropped smack down onto the Caribbean seabed, this life-sized sculpture of a Volkswagen Beetle is only one of 400 cement structures that have been slated for a watery showcase in the largest underwater museum in the world.

In November of last year, British sculptor – and the museum’s artistic director – Jason de Caires Taylor started sending down concrete replicas of people, not with a view to “colonize” the sea, but to restore it. The museum pieces in the National Marine Park of Cancun will draw fire away from the reef by redirecting the visitors’ attention their way.

Now, this VW Beetle has joined the ever-growing underwater “city,” a project called The Silent Evolution. Made out of PH-neutral concrete and riddled with holes to provide access to internal living spaces, this “car” is meant to house marine life. The slim child-like figure who sits atop the bonnet, cowering and covering his face as if in shame, or even fear, comments on Man’s actual place on this Earth. The sculpture renders him powerless to face Nature on her home turf.

(Source: MyModernMet.com)