Coral Morphologic Resurrects the Reef for Art Basel

​Just off shore, miles past South Beach's glowing neon marquees, there are graceful and ethereal creatures, pulsing with their own natural fluorescence. These jellyfish, zoanthids, and corals, which pirouette and sway out on Miami's reefs, are the muses of art/science duo Coral Morphologic. Colin Foord and Jared McKay filmed these sea treasures in their Overtown studio, and this week, the resulting videos will be projected on select walls around Miami Beach for Art Basel.

The installation, "Artificial Reef," is the result of Christy Gast's Weird Miami tour, organized by Bas Fisher Invitational, which brought the Knight Foundation's Alberto Ibargüen to their studio. There, he saw their coral projections, and "Artificial Reef" scored funding from the generous foundation. After trying to implement a public art project like this for three years, Coral Morphologic will "encrust and colonize these buildings with colorful marine life, much like the rocks of the reef that they came from."

Coral Morphologic's videos recently screened on the American Airlines Arena.

​Foord continues, "Most people simply don't know that the cement used in constructing Miami's buildings is largely composed of the pulverized fossils of coral and marine life that once colonized South Florida when it was submerged in millennia past."

From Thursday to Sunday, 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., see giant, glowing zoanthids on the fossilized coral limestone wall of the Art Deco Welcome Center in "Clytie"; pillow-y jellyfish throb across the clock tower at the 401 Building on Lincoln Road in the video "Cassiopeia"; and in "Helios," corals undulate on the north wall of the Wolfsonian.

On Friday, there'll be an opening reception at the Art Deco Welcome Center, where the coral screenscapes will be paired with live performances by Sumsun and ANR. Parasian video artist Jamie Harley will curate Coral Morpholic's films as the bands provide an ambient and aquatic soundtrack. The reception starts at 7 p.m. and is free. Visit morpholgicstudios.com.