Coral Crafters

Minecraft | Installation + Documentary Short

The problem: Build a real world coral reef… in the shape of Minecraft characters.

That’s one heck of a problem to be tasked with finding a solution to. Can you build coral reefs? Do they function as real coral reefs do - and what does that look like? Where can you put this, and who can build it?

But being given this monumental task and a chance to actually do something that has the power to make positive change in this world was an honor. So I dug in with the research and found a group of mad scientists who actually build coral reefs in communities where their coral populations have been decimated (using lightly electrified metal structures that cause minerals in the ocean water to calcify around it!). Next we found a permitted spot off the coast of Cozumel, Mexico to install this reef and worked with another coral reef scientist who had been collecting broken reef pieces off the ocean floor to attach and regrow on our structures. And to top it, we found students in a community in Mexico to design the coral reef structures.

And then we built and installed six of these structures underwater alongside our coral scientists and students, and captured the entire process with a documentary film crew.

If it isn’t evident here, this was a complicated one. But it was challenging in the most wonderful way, and one to remember.

I’m also basically a marine scientist now.