Richard Branson Submerges Ship With 80-Foot Steel Kraken Art Sculpture
The Caribbean plays host to the new installation.
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A new Richard Branson project is one of 2017’s most audacious artistic undertakings. The enterprise involved outfitting a decades-old ship with a large steel kraken, heavy enough to sink the vessel for good.
The Kodiak Queen, one of the last boats to survive World War II’s Pearl Harbor bombings, was purchased by the magnate as the basis of an art installation and artificial marine life environment. Over the course of nine months, a team of artists, divers and more outfitted the boat with a wire-frame kraken sculpture, carving out areas of the ship for divers to explore and sea life to thrive in. Over the summer, the ship was set out to sea and sunk with the kraken effigy. The site is now teeming with fish and other fauna, and it’s open for divers to explore.
Interested parties can investigate the sunken ship for themselves off the coast of Virgin Gorda. In related news, Branson recently confirmed an investment in Hyperloop One.