A museum with a difference opened yesterday (1 March), under the sea off the coast of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. The UK-born artist Jason deCaires Taylor has created a cast of figures located fourteen metres under the Atlantic Ocean. The main installation in the so-called Museo Atlantico shows 35 figures walking towards a gate, or portal to another world (Rubicon). Another work, The Raft of Lampedusa, is “a harrowing depiction of the ongoing humanitarian crisis, referencing French Romantic painter Théodore Géricault's 1818 work”, says a press statement, adding that “the work is not intended as a tribute or memorial to the many lives lost but as a stark reminder of the collective responsibility of our now global community”. There is also a conservation angle, as the pieces should form in time a large-scale artificial reef. Dive guides will help tourists locate the watery works, which are publicly accessible from 1 March. The project is funded by the local government of Lanzarote.
