Cancun Underwater Museum

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Cancun Underwater Museum MUSA It is a Non-Profit Organization based in Cancun México devoted to the Art of Conservation. This museum as a total of 500 sculptures with three different galleries submerged between three and six meters started in 2009 and completed at the end of 2013. A series of sculptures by Jason deCaires Taylor and five other Mexican sculptors are pm m mlazmlcawsome placederwater ^[1] of the Cancún National Marine Park. The museum was thought up by Marine Park Director Jaime Gonzalez Canto with the help off sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor

History[edit]

At the beginning of 2008 Jaime Gonzalez Canto and Jason deCaires Taylor began to create the plans for an Underwater Museum, which would be formed by nature into a coral reef. ^[3]

Dr. Jaime González Miki, the Director of the National Park Costa Occidental Isla Mujeres, Punta Cancun y Punta Nizuc, saw that the natural coral reefs were being damaged my tourist, anchors, and divers. He began to see that the largest coral reef in Cancun,Mexico Manchones reef was becoming the most damaged because it is the most visited by divers and snorkelers ^[4]

The number of visitors that come by the thousands to Cancún every year to swim and dive in the natural reefs will have a new coral reef to explore and begin to help the reefs that have be damaged. Dr. González Canto suggested to the President of the Cancun Nautical Association, at the time Roberto Díaz Abraham, the idea of taking snorkelers and divers to an area where there concrete reefs with some corals had been placed at the beginning of 2005 to begin directing snorkelers and divers away from Manchones reef. By January of 2008 Roberto believed that it would take many more years for these artificial gardens to flourish and become an attraction, making him walk away from this project. Dr. González Canto Knew there was a way to protect the coral reefs and build an artificial reef in which would also attract tourist away from damaged reefs. Has Dr. Gonzalez Canto began doing more research on how to build an artificial reef he came across British sculpture Jason deCaires Taylor. At the time Jason deCaires Taylor was working on an underwater sculpture in the Canary Islands which are meant to attract plant life and sea life can grow in and feed off of. ^[5]

He was also a diving instructor at the time in the Caribbean, which also allowed him to see art in a different way. ^[6]

The Nautical Association President, Roberto Diaz Abraham, agreed to the plan for Jason deCaires Taylor to create an underwater sculpture museum. As Abraham, Canto, and Taylor met MUSA was created and Jason deCaires was contracted to do the initial work, as well as other Mexican sculptors.After Five years of MUSA foundation, six artists have their work placed at the bottom of the ocean. At the end of 2013, a total of 500 concrete sculptures comprise the MUSA collection. In Manchones exhibit room the Museum gathers 477 elements while in Nizuc there are 23. Another 26 replicas have been located at a Visitor Center at Kukulcan Mall in the Hotel Zone.More than 100,000 visitors visited MUSA during 2013 out of 500,000 that visit the Government Protected Area.

The “Silent Evolution”[edit]

Jason deCaires Taylor’s installment of sculptures is a collection he calls the “Silent Evolution.” The statues of this collection are to show humans interacting with the environment around them. It is both in a positive and negative impact. He shows how humans can live with nature and make a workable future between the two. The negative is showing how humans have damaged nature, the coral reefs, and show no sympathy. ^[7]

Each statue was made to resemble members of a local fishing community where Jason deCaires Taylor lives. Each statue has its own personality and features. DeCaires Taylor made sure every detail from the hair to the statuses clothes had to be perfect. The statues are aiming towards conserving the reef. Some of the statues include a little girl with a faint smile on her face looking up to the surface. Another is of six business men with their heads in the sand not paying attention to their surroundings. DeCaires Taylor even includes a man behind a desk with his dog laying down behind them, but looking tired and uninvolved in the environment. All the statue in the “Silent Evolution” is showing how some humans see their surrounding and embrace them while others head their faces. They are created above ground and cleaned before taking them down underwater so they do not have any harmful chemicals on them they may harm the water, animals, or reef. ^[8]

It took Jason deCaiers Taylor 18 months, 120 tons of concrete, sand, and gravel. There was 3,8000m of fiberglass, 400kg of silicone, and 120 hours of working underwater to create the museum. ^[9] The artist planned for the sculptures to become an artificial reefs. The sculptures are created with pH-neutral marine concrete, that was constructed with help from the help of some marine park officials and the Cancun Nautical Association. Some corals (such as fire coral) was planted on and near the initial sculptures. The “Silent Evolution” has two parts to it. The first part are the sculptures themselves underwater. The second part is to what nature does to them and how the coral will grow and a new reef will form. ^[10]

The Museum[edit]

Three galleries have been created, two underwater and one on the land. MUSA obtained a permit to sink 1,200 structures in 10 different areas within the National Marine Park. So far only two have been developed, Manchones reef with 477 sculptures and Punta Nizuc with 23 beautiful structures.

To get the statues underwater Jason deCaires Taylor had a special lift made for the statues so none would be damaged during the move. Once the statues are brought to the sea and to where they will be placed a forty-ton crane was placed on a commercial ferry. Some statues were so heavy they had to be lifted into the water using lift bags, which are bags of air to help control the position of the statue in the right spot. ^[11] The third exhibit room is in a Mall, Plaza Kukulcán, with 26 replicas and original. You may find the original ceramic sculpture by Roberto Díaz Abraham named The Ocean Muse. Roberto Díaz Abraham is Co-founder of MUSA together with Dr. Jaime González Cano, the Director of the Marine Park.

A total of about 500 sculptures were planned, to be installed by the end of 2010.^[12][13] Snorkelers, scuba divers, and tourists can visit this Underwater Museum via a glass-bottom boat. A new installation is coming this summer by the Cuban sculptor Elier Amado Gil under the name of Blessings. This new installation will be placed in a new Galerie: Chitales.

The Benefits[edit]

The underwater museum is to benefit the protection of the coral reefs. Artificial reefs are usually created by sunken ships and other objects that have fallen to the bottom of the ocean floor. The statues are a new technique and material for coral to grow and collect.^[14] Art was seen as saving the oceans.

As each statue was made with PH-neutral cement, coral, seaweed, and algae are able to grow and develop better than on an old ship. Stable structures with a stable base have been known to be the perfect surface for an artificial reefs to form. The statues also feature holes in them, which allows marine wildlife to colonize and feed off the coral. Coral reefs will increase, but also marine life. After only a short time under the water, the statues began to change and nature started to do its part in growing with the help of humans. In time, all the statues will be covered and their figures will barely be visible ^[15]

The museum also benefits the community. With the new installment more tourist are coming and new tours are being created for them. A Cancun tour guide and diver Juan Carlos Garrido worries the museum will not last. The museum is good for his touring and diving business, but he is concerned that the statues and coral reefs may become ruined or even more damaged by a storm or the numbers of tourist that will come. These statues are meant to keep coral developing and if some gets damaged the statues are able to continue that growth. ^[16]

More Underwater Statues[edit]

Jason deCaires Taylor has more underwater sculptures that tourist can visit. He has exhibits near the Manchones reef and Punta Nizuc in Cancun, Mexico. There is one off the coast of Grenada by Molinere. Also an exhibit in Musha Cay in the Bahamas.