In Fall 2014, the Crochet Coral Reef traveled to the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute in the United Arab Emirates. The Middle East is home to a network of unique reefs as well as to an explosion of human-made development, thus making the region a fertile place for both the aesthetic pleasures and ecological consciousness-raising of the Crochet Reef project.

Two years in the making, this new incarnation of the exhibition centered around our Coral Forest, a collection of six large ‘snakey-armed sculptures’ crocheted from yarn and plastic threads, including videotape, shopping bags and tinsel. Also in the show was an expanded collection of our miniature coral Pod Worlds, each a tiny fantastical landscape featuring works by some of the IFF’s most skilled crochet Reefers. Contrasting the humongous and the delicate, the trashy and the sublime, the exhibition invited viewers into an environment that celebrated the sea while also asking them to ponder its fragility in the face of overwhelming human activity.

Sited in a soaring atrium in one of NYU’s new buildings on its Sadiyatt Island campus, the exhibition treated visitors to a unique installation lit by natural light through massive four-story windows, evoking a vast aquarium.

The exhibition also debuted the NYU Abu Dhabi Satellite Reef. This stunning addition to the worldwide archipelago of crocheted Satellite Reefs was constructed around a collection of traditional Emirati fishing baskets, attached together in seven mosque-like mounds, each representing one of the seven federated emirates. Throughout 2014, members of the NYU Abu Dhabi community gathered in workshops to make the forms. Participants included faculty, students, and cafeteria workers, plus a diverse group of native Emiratis and resident ex-pats. The final reef – a triumph of whimsy with unique local influence and a wondrous element of bling!— shot joyously upward in a collection of exuberantly composed islands.

The NYU Abu Dhabi Satellite Reef was organized for the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute by Jason Beckerman, Pam Mandich, and Michal Teague.

Accompanying the exhibition was programming that included two wide-ranging panel discussions:

Radical Craft: a discussion panel about the new ‘radical craft’ movement, and how crochet can open unexpected paths to imagining and being in the world. Panel members: Crochet Coral Reef co-creator Christine Wertheim, plus internationally-acclaimed fiber artists Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam and Shauna Richardson.

Reefs, Rubbish, and Reason: a panel discussion about how science and art can work together to enhance our ecological consciousness. Panel members: Crochet Coral Reef co-creator Margaret Wertheim, reknowned New York cultural critic Lawrence Weschler, and coral biologist John Burt.