Currently on display at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Federico Uribe’s Plastic Reef appears to be an underwater world filled with corals, mussels and schools of fish. Everything has been created and replicated using thousands of pieces of upcycled plastic carefully cut, dyed and arranged: discarded plastic bottles, cutlery, flip flops and other plastic detritus that finds its way to the oceans as part of the “garbage islands,” highlighting the damage done in the oceans by pollution.

Pupa Gilbert will use the coral reef on display in Federico Uribe: Metamorphosis as a jumping off point to discuss how to save coral reefs and counter the damage humans cause through from climate change. Gilbert is a professor of physics at UW-Madison and visiting faculty scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.