Environmentalists, Ocean Lovers, and Mermaids rejoice! The Great Barrier Reef is opening the most magical museum of underwater art, and spoiler alert, it looks epic.
The unique museum named the Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA), will be located in Moua, which is two hours by boat from Townsville.
The art collection is being installed 18 metres beneath the surface, on the natural sandy inlet of John Brewer Reef.
As the only underwater art museum in the Southern Hemisphere – along with being a major tourism attraction, economic injector, job generator and marine science and research hub, MOUA will act to highlight reef conservation, restoration and education on a global scale.
The artist
The artist, Jason Decaires Taylor, was among the first wave of new-generation artists to dive into the underwater realm and highlight it as an artistic exhibition space.
His permanent underwater works span several continents, including in the Bahamas, Mexico, and Lanzarote, with each project exploring themes of conservation and environmental activism.
Jason’s projects aim to open debate about our relationship to our seas and highlight the importance of conserving them.
How inspiring is that?
The MOUA
The MOUA will feature incredible installations and sculptures that will be partially and fully submerged with the changing tides.
One of the first, and largest, artworks to be installed is The Coral Greenhouse, which is uniquely designed to allow current to pass through while providing a cultivation platform for juvenile corals.
“Our oceans are going through rapid change, and there are huge threats, from rising sea temperatures to acidification, and a large amount of pollution entering the system,” Decaires Taylor said.
“Part of creating an underwater museum is about changing our value systems – thinking about the sea floor as something sacred, something that we should be protecting and not taking for granted.”
Jason Decaires Taylor
The project’s collaborators are also very conscious about the potentially negative consequences of an increase in tourism to the region.
“MOUA is looking at many operational models, from encouraging local visitors more than overseas ones, to electric powerboats and providing stationary pontoons at the site to reduce the amount of travel needed,” Decaires Taylor writes.
As a true artist and environmentalist, Jason believes that once the works are submerged they no longer belong to him – they belong to the ocean and all the creatures that live there.
We’re not sure about you, but we can’t wait to see these natural wonders as breathing ecosystems.
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