- Reedham Ferry Inn
Iron Reef
by Maetherea Cristina Morbi + Aurora Destro
Iron Reef is inspired by the anthropized amphibious landscape. As an Amphibious structure, it can live on both earth and water. Shaped by the winter tides and emerging as a landmark between the reeds, it connects the sky and the water. The materiality references the nautical heritage of Reedham Ferry, the underwater ruins created by the sea, and the micro-fluorescence appearing in them. We do consider those lives, lichens, and patina as essential languages for our art piece.
The curved light metallic structure climbs to the sky and interacts with the water at high tide, creating visually enchanting reflections. People are invited to interact with it, following the bioluminescent walkway, which glows at night. The vertical elements gently guide the walk, undulating in the wind, echoing the reeds on the horizon. The tides from the river modify the material, adding patina and oxidation as a performance of colour or a maritime ruin.
This observation device invites visitors to contemplate the season’s changes on the River Yare. The project explores natural phenomena thanks to the symbiosis between the tides, the structure, and the reeds: it offers a multi-sensorial and cyclical experience. Reeds are soft green in the warm months and golden in the cold season; their feather-like flowers are purple and silver. Winter tides mirror the artwork, vanishing the line between the land and the water.
Our hope is for the Iron Reef to be a community and an environmental machine: changing through time, shaped by water, plants, animals and humans.
Biography
Maetherea Cristina Morbi, Aurora Destro
‘Places are poetic. They grow and change, influenced and inspired by the people that pass through them.
Because of this, our works are interactive. They are made to approach, touch, sit and engage with.
Actions change our sculptures, trigging light, sounds, echos. Rain, Wind, Sunlight, and unpredictable interactions create a new landscape of interactive responses.
In this way, we make the work, but they are completed by the human community and natural agents they come into contact with.
This creates a symbiosis between art and its environment.’
Maetherea {Matter+Ethereal} is an multidisciplinary creative practice guided by artistic duo Cristina Morbi and Aurora Destro. Working internationally on Environmental Design and Public Art, it aims to create sustainable landscape design and public art. Our work couple renewable resources with technology to create spaces that changes through time, unifying performances of the matter with natural and artificial phenomena.
We create Time-Based Iconic Design and Art installation working on the interaction between human and nature, continuously evolving in new scenarios.
We believe urban spaces and public art is not a sequence of objects, but rather a choreography of performances, jointing the sculptural perception to experiential design. In this way, we focus on the narrative: the story behind a place and finding a new and creative way to celebrate this.