22 Cars, 20 Feet Down: Leandro Erlich Unveils 'CONCRETE CORAL' at Miami Art Week
The sculptures are cast from marine-grade, pH-neutral concrete and will be seeded with thousands of coral fragments.
Summary
- Leandro Erlich’s CONCRETE CORAL installs 22 concrete car sculptures underwater in Miami Beach.
- Part of Reefline, the work functions as an artificial reef supporting coral and marine life
- The installation critiques urban congestion while merging art with ecological restoration
Leandro Erlich‘s latest monumental installation, CONCRETE CORAL has been fully deployed along the ReefLine — a seven-mile underwater sculpture park and hybrid reef off the coast of Miami Beach. This permanent installation serves as the inaugural fully deployed artwork within the ambitious, long-term plan to merge accessible ocean activism with public art, conceived by Ximena Caminos and masterplanned by OMA / Shohei Shigematsu. Erlich’s concept is a powerful statement on environmental change and regeneration, transforming what was once a carrier of pollution into a vessel of nature’s return.
The installation dramatically transforms this underwater space with a traffic jam of 20 life-sized concrete cars, all submerged 20 feet below the ocean’s surface. These sculptures, which weigh up to 16tons each, are cast from marine-grade, pH-neutral concrete that was custom-engineered to promote coral attachment. The fabrication process began with digitally modeled forms routed into large 3D-printed molds, ensuring the artist’s signature uncanny realism could withstand long-term ocean exposure. The cars are arranged in a snaking configuration that intentionally echoes the choreography of a traffic jam, and are securely anchored to the seafloor after enduring simulated hurricane-strength conditions during testing.
Visitors can access the site during Miami Art Week via low-impact, electric paddleboards, with the site marked by a pastel-toned Meditation Buoy by digital-physical artist Andrés Reisinger. The site also hosts coral-restoration workshops and guided discussions from the Floating Marine Learning Center.
