Crochet Coral Reef

The Crochet Coral Reef project, by Margaret and Christine Wertheim and the Institute For Figuring, responds to the environmental crisis of global warming and the escalating problem of oceanic plastic trash. Residing at the intersection of mathematics, marine biology, handicraft, and community art practice, the Crochet Coral Reef highlights not only the damage humans do to the earth's environment, but also our power for positive action. The project constitutes an elegiacally beautiful, artistically complex, and socially powerful way to bring citizens together around a devastating ecological challenge—the survival of the coral reefs and marine ecologies throughout the world.

Crochet Coral Reef: CO2CA-CO2LA Ocean by Margaret and Christine Wertheim and the Institute For Figuring
Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery
February 10 - May 6, 2017

? Artist talk: February 10, 4:00 pm, Digital Arts Research Center (DARC) 108 with Christine Wertheim

? Reception: Friday, February 10, 5:00 –7:00 pm, Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery

? Artist meet & greet: Saturday, February 11, 2:00– 4:00 pm, Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery

These events are FREE and open to the public. Permits will be for sale at the Performing Arts Lot and the Porter College Lot for $5.

In addition to the exhibition Crochet Coral Reef: CO2CA-CO2LA Ocean at the Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, related programming includes the creation of the UC Santa Cruz Satellite Reef, crocheted by UCSC students alongside faculty, staff and Santa Cruz community members. This latest addition to an ever-evolving wooly archipelago of crochet reefs worldwide will be exhibited at the Seymour Marine Discovery Center beginning May 4, 2017. See ias.ucsc.edu for more details.