AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATION
Presented by: Ocean World of Sound
Summer of 2023, sea-surface temperatures on the Mesoamerican Reef reached a record 34 °C. Poor coastal planning, runaway tourism, and massive sargassum blooms amplified the heat stress, provoking widespread bleaching of hard-coral colonies. During a bleaching event corals expel the symbiotic micro-algae that give them colour and nutrients, leaving them colorless. Ocean World of Sound (WOS) - UNESCO endorsed action - has tracked these changes through a network of underwater listening stations and visual documentation through video and photography (some of which are featured here). This installation displays 3-D models by Gino Caballero of affected coral colonies captured in Puerto Morelos a few months after the bleaching event. These virtual coral reefs interact with the soundscape provided by Heather Spence’s original soundtrack that includes the sounds recorded during the bleaching event.