Lesson 2

Course of Site Specific Public Art
Lesson #2

FOUNDATION: PUBLIC ART AS AN OPEN FIELD ?
The work of Christo and Jeanne Claude

1
Politecnico di Milano (Campus di Piacenza) School of Architecture and Society

Lesson #2

PRESENTATION OF THE COURSE

Instructions to follow the course:

-blog art-as-playground.blogspot.com

Facebook group: publicartpiacenza

#publicartpiacenza

I send you a reading in pdf format.
This is my adress: ornellacostanzopolipc@gmail.com
2

Lesson #2

BEST KNOWN AND CONTROVERSIAL ARTWORKS BY CHRISTO AND JEANNE CLAUDE

-Valley Curtain stretched 1,250 feet across a valley in Rifle, Colorado;

-Wrapped Coast covered a mile and a half of Australian coastline with
a million square feet of fabric;

- The Umbrellas deployed 3,100 umbrellas set in Japan and California,
each nearly twenty feet tall;

-Surrounded Islands encircled eleven islands in Biscayne Bay, Florida
with six and a half million square feet of bright pink fabric;

- Wrapped Reichstag enveloped the entire German parliament in
shimmering silver fabric.

-The last famous work was The Gates in Central Park.

3

Lesson #2

BEST KNOWN AND CONTROVERSIAL ARTWORKS BY CHRISTO AND JEANNE CLAUDE-
characteristics

-Their artworks are process-oriented events not self contained events.

- Many aspects of the project are well choreographed and they're part
of the artwork itself. Such as

-the long courtship of the landowners, local citizens and government
officials, from whom the artists need approval;

-their exhaustive study of the environment or landscape where they
want to work on;

-all impact studies;

-the ritual-like movements of the workers who install the artwork;

-the photographic and video documentation of the building of the
piece;

4

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-THE WRAPPED COAST- AUSTRALIA- 1969

- Little Bay, property of
Prince Henry Hospital,
Sydney.
Wrapped area:
2.4 kilometers long,
46 to 244 meters wide
26 meters high
92,000 sq metres of
erosion-control fabric
56 km of polipropylene
rope
25,000 clips and studs
to secure the rope to
rocks
15 pro climbers
110 workers
Duration of the artwork:
10 weeks

5

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-THE WRAPPED COAST- AUSTRALIA- 1969

-

http://www.christojeannec

http://www.christojeannec

6

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-OVER THE RIVER – COLORADO ( U.S.A.) work in progress

-
5,9 miles of silver,
luminous fabric panels
over the river Arkansas
on 42 miles stretched
river route

http://www.christojeanne

7

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-OVER THE RIVER – COLORADO ( U.S.A.) work in progress

-
http://www.christojeanneclaude

http://www.christojeanneclaude

8

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-VALLEY CURTAIN– 1971 COLORADO ( U.S.A.)

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuH

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqU

9

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-THE UMBRELLAS– 1991 CALIFORNIA ( U.S.A.) AND JAPAN (18 days)

- 3,100 umbrellas;
19 km long valley in
Japan and 26 km lon
valley in Califiornia;
fabric, aluminum
super-structure, steel
frame bases,
anchors, wooden
base supports, bags
and molded base
covers.
Japan: 459 private
landowners and
governmental
agencies
USA: 25 private
landowners as well as
governmental
agencies.

10

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-THE UMBRELLAS– 1991 CALIFORNIA ( U.S.A.) AND JAPAN

-
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=wiagfGqs2Yc

11

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-SURROUNDED ISLANDS– 1983 MIAMI, FLORIDA ( U.S.A.)

- flamingo pink
floating fabric
surrounded the
islands;

2 weeks duration
11km wrapping total
area

Workers:
marine biologist ,
ornithologists,
mammal expert ,
marine engineer ,
four consulting
engineers, and
builder-contractor

12

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-THE RUNNING FENCE– 1976 SAN FRANCISCO TO BODEGA BAY,
CALIFORNIA ( U.S.A.) duration 14 days

-
5 mt high
39 km long from
Freeway 101 to the
Ocean
59 private properties
crossed
42 months of work
200,000 sq metres of
woven white nylon
fabric
2050 steel poles in
the ground
14,000 earth
anchores
2,050 fabric panels
350,000 hooks

13

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-THE RUNNING FENCE– 1976 SAN FRANCISCO TO BODEGA BAY,
CALIFORNIA ( U.S.A.) duration 14 days

-
http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?
v=S1ta0NaacfY&featur
e=related

14

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-THE PONT NEUF WRAPPED–1985- PARIS (duration 14 days)

-
300 professional
workers;

41,000 sq mt of
woven polyamide
fabric,silky and
golden coloured;

13 km of ropes;

12 tons of steel
chains;

http://www.youtube.co
m/watch?
v=b_6iZX1j4oo

15

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-THE GATES–2005- CENTRAL PARK NEW YORK (duration 16 days)

-
7,503 fabric panels
37 km of walkways
600 workers
employed for
installing
300 workers for the
removal
2,13 mt high above
the ground
3,64 mt interval
between each one

http://www.youtube.c
om/watch?
v=I7DLyUIsrc0

16

Lesson #2

Christo and Jeanne Claude-THE WRAPPED REICHSTAG- 1995- BERLIN (duration 14 days)

- -to educate the public
-constant negotiations with public
( private, state, ecc)
-process-oriented events
- self-financed
-Ephemeral nature of the work
-Expression of artistic freedom
- aesthetic and poetic role of art in
life
- use of fabric as color
-Involvement of workers (i.e.
unemplyed people) in the phasis of
the work
-By a negative process when they
borrow landscapes, they emphasize
them, stressing the lack, the
disappearance
-enhance a landscape or monument
“invisible” at our sight

17

Lesson 2

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