This September, The ReefLine will unveil its first underwater installation, launching what promises to be one of the world’s most ambitious environmental art projects: a seven-mile public sculpture park, snorkel trail, and hybrid reef just off the coast of Miami Beach.
Render of Leandro Erlich’s Concrete Coral. Courtesy of The ReefLine.
Founded by cultural placemaker Ximena Caminos, the nonprofit initiative reimagines climate infrastructure through large-scale, site-specific art. Designed to revive a critical stretch of the Florida Reef Tract—the planet’s third-largest coral reef system—The ReefLine blends art, science, and regenerative technology to promote biodiversity, fortify the coastline, and spark conversation around marine conservation.
“Miami is a living laboratory,” says Caminos. “We’re using art as a tool to actively shape a better future.” With the debut underwater installation now in motion, the project enters its first phase—bringing Caminos’ sweeping vision to life.
The inaugural artwork, Concrete Coral by Leandro Erlich, features 22 full-scale cars submerged 15 to 20 feet underwater, forming a ghostly traffic jam that nods to the paradox of human progress and ecological fragility. Cast in marine-grade concrete from 3D-printed molds and seeded with live coral using Coral Lok, a patented transplanting method, the sculptures will become living reef structures. Coral specimens are being cultivated at The ReefLine’s Miami lab under the guidance of marine biologist Colin Foord, while fabrication continues at the University of New Hampshire’s John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center.
To celebrate the September deployment, The ReefLine will host a public event with beachside festivities, live underwater footage, and conversations with artists and scientists.
The ReefLine’s multi-phase master plan, designed in collaboration with Shohei Shigematsu and OMA, includes future commissions such as The Miami Reef Star by Carlos Betancourt and Alberto Latorre, and Heart of Okeanos by Petroc Sesti—each blending aesthetic imagination with ecological intent. The Miami Reef Star soft-launched during Art Week 2024, drawing over 100,000 visitors.
International momentum continues in June 2025, when The Reef Star will appear in the Jardin Albert 1er during the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France. This twin installation, created in partnership with the UN, UNESCO, and the City of Nice, will feature 41 marine-safe, 3D-printed sea stars and a central bench illuminated by a skylight. Crafted from sustainable concrete and CARAT—a carbon-storing bio-based binder—the sculpture offers shelter to marine life while serving as a symbol of global ocean action.
Supported by a $5 million Arts & Culture Bond from the City of Miami Beach and early backing from the Knight Arts Challenge, The ReefLine stands as a rare convergence of environmental advocacy, public art, and visionary coastal resilience—where creativity and coral thrive together, just below the surface.
