The Sea Urchin is a massive sculpture of a sea urchin with spines that light up at night. Abram Santa Cruz was inspired to make this art sculpture as a result of being a dive volunteer at the Aquarium. His dedication toward ocean sustainability and the preservation of sea animals inspired him to create the sculpture and pursue a degree in Environmental Science.

The sculpture is 20 feet tall and 28 feet wide. The “Legs” of the Sea Urchin have a beautifully designed laser cut pattern on them. They are held in the middle by a metal bracket. Coming down from the center of the Sea Urchin is a center pole with seating to accommodate 8-12 people. The spines are made of aluminum and acrylic tubes with multicolored programmable LED lights running through them. The sculpture was originally displayed at Burning Man in 2015 and won a Global Arts Grant Honoraria the following year.

The Sea Urchin will be on exhibit at the Aquarium until May 2020

People love technology and they love being able to control art projects. We’re giving them the ability to do just that. The interactive component of the project will be operated from an iPad control booth which we tested at burning man this year. You can see the test we performed with people operating and interacting with the iPad in the video above.