The Bleached Reef at the Cooper-Hewitt

""The Bleached Reef" at the Chicago Cultural Center. Oct 2007," photo copyright The IFF by Margaret Wertheim, source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/84445194@N00/1806457035/

The Institute for Figuring's Bleached Reef is now on exhibit in New York at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in the Why Design Now? National Design Triennial.

Similar to the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef, the Bleached Reef is a delicate creation designed to raise awareness of effects of climate change and ocean acidification upon coral reefs--the beauty of the handcrafted reef vividly embodies the impact of humanity upon a marine ecosystem that we can't normally visit.

And if you can't visit the exhibit in New York, stay tuned to Margaret Wertheim's photostream on Flickr where she often posts photos from reef exhibits.