Artist Vik Muniz is known for his gigantic composite installations and sculptures created from thousands of individual objects. In this new collaboration with artist and MIT researcher Marcelo Coelho, Muniz takes the opposite approach and explores the microscopic with a new series of sandcastles etched onto individual grains of sand.

The endangered antipodean albatross, which is often caught in fishing nets, won most first-choice votes out of the more than 55,000 votes cast during the 2020 New Zealand’s bird of the year competition. (Photo by Wildestanimal/Getty Images)

“MSC Fabiola is a container ship owned by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the largest such vessel ever to dock in North America. In March 2012 the ship shifted from its initial Asia-to-Europe service to begin trans-Pacific service. On March 19, 2012, Fabiola docked at the Port of Long Beach, breaking earlier records for the largest container ship at a US port, and at any North American port”. – Wikipedia

Photo: The container ship MSC Fabiola (R) is seen docked at the Port of Oakland on March 22, 2012, in Oakland, California. The MSC Fabiola is the largest container ship ever to dock at any seaport in North America with an overall length of nearly one quarter mile long. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard stand by at St. Peter's Square before Pope Francis delivers his traditional Christmas Day Urbi et Orbi speech to the city and the world from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, December 25, 2021. (Photo by Yara Nardi/Reuters)

An iguana rests on a man's head during a pet blessing ceremony a day after World Animal Day, at a mall in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines on October 5, 2025. (Photo by Noel Celis/Reuters)

A curious leopard cub toys with a camera at MalaMala Game Reserve in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. (Photo by Barcroft Media)

The giant mural titled “Under the Hand” by Maclaim Crew is visible on a building facade in Kreuzberg district on June 26, 2014 in Berlin, Germany. Berlin, with its long tradition of counter-culture, has become a mecca for street art of all dimensions and messages. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)