The creative process: Working from a live model, deCairnes creates a cement sculpture that attracts coral and plant life underwater
ripped them out, rolled them over the reef and destroyed all the coral, so it’s really important to ensure they’re fi xed.
What are they made from? They’re made out of specialised marine cement that’s 20 times more durable than normal construction cement and impervious to the salt water. I can’t use metal as it would corrode
and break down. Ninety per cent of pub- lic sculpture has some kind of metal in the armature or construction, so the challenge for me is to design objects differently. I use armatures made out of inert fi breglass and geo-textiles.
How are the sculptures protected? Mainly through education. We ask the guides to explain that these are artifi cial reefs and have signs underwater asking people not to touch the sculptures. But nowadays, everything’s a photo opportu- nity – people stand next to the sculptures and put their arms around them for a photo and then we get a breakage.
What are the challenges? Firstly, is getting permission. Before starting, I have to do a very strict envi-
AM 1 2014 ©cybertrek 2014
ronmental impact assessment for the government. That’s quite a diffi cult part of the process, depending upon the location – it’s very diffi cult to get permits in America, for example. Navigating the weather and schedule
deployment is always diffi cult. If a dense wind falls it makes it far harder to work. Another challenge is the unpredict- able nature of the sea. It can work in my favour – I might fi nd some beautiful pink sponges and amazing coral growing, which is fantastic. But there can be undesirable effects.
We had an issue where we went along one day and all the sculptures were completely covered in thick algae. We couldn’t see anything at all, which was worrying. We cleaned it off half of them and three months later, the ones we’d cleaned had grown back worse, whereas the algae had started to disappear on the ones we hadn’t touched. That was quite a lesson in not messing with things too much. A year later the algae had gone completely from all of them. There are so many factors that could
have caused it, but the likely culprit was pollution from surrounding hotels; it was beyond our control.
What are you working on now? I’ve just fi nished working at MUSA and have relocated to Europe. I’m very interested in working in different destina- tions. I’m in talks with people in Florida, Malaysia, and the Maldives. It’s fascinat- ing because each place has very different conditions and the works would evolve very differently according to location. One of my aims is to advance the tech-
nology and research that allows more marine life to colonise the sculptures and create works that are more interac- tive for visitors. I’m currently devising some installations that start on land and then go into the sea. I’m also doing some pieces that rise out of the water so people can dive off them and others with lights so people can scuba dive at night. I’ve plenty of ideas, which I can’t reveal
yet, but at this moment in time I’ve just begun a exciting project off the coast of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. The crystal blue Atlantic waters surrounding the island are home to a completely dif- ferent marine ecosystem and the large scale project will discuss the topic of climate change and migration. It is sup- ported by the Achenbach Art Foundation and the regional government. ●
Read Attractions Management online
attractionsmanagement.com/digital 47
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