LIBRARY
Crochet Coral Reef Project
PRESS RELEASE:
Now one of the world’s largest science
and art endeavors, the Crochet Coral
Reef project combines mathematics,
marine biology, and community-based
art to create a vast handicraft response
to global warming and its devastating
effects on living reefs.
This lavishly illustrated book, written by Crochet Reef creators, Margaret and Christine Wertheim, brings together the scientific and ecological content behind the project, along with essays
about the artistic and cultural relevance of this unusual experiment in radical craft practice. 100
pages of photos supplement the essays, documenting the many Crochet Reef installations at art
galleries and science museums worldwide, including the Hayward Gallery in London and the
Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. In addition, the book
serves as a testament to the collective creativity of the thousands of people who have participated
in making more-than 30 ‘satellite reefs’ in a dozen countries, from the US and Australia, to Latvia,
Germany, and the United Arab Emirates. This ever-expanding wooly archipelago is celebrated in a
specially designed section that names all 7,000+ contributors around the globe. In the fantastical
landscapes of the Crochet Coral Reef, mathematics and evolutionary theory are united via feminine
handicraft to create works of art at once visually powerful and ecologically pertinent.
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SciArt in America June 2015