ART-PRESENTATION: Christo & Jeanne-Claude -Works in Progress
Christo & Jeanne-Claude are internationally recognized for their outdoor artistic interventions. These large-scale works have adorned some of the most famous landscapes and buildings around the world, “Surrounded Miami Islands” (1983), “Pont Neuf” (1984) and the widely publicized “Wrapped Reichstag” (1995) mark the most recognized high points that demonstrate their inclusive and generous idea for a contemporary public work of art.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Galerie Gmurzynska Archive
Since Jeanne-Claude’s death in 2009, her husband and partner Christo has pushed to bring their unrealized installations to life, some that the couple had been planning for almost 40 years. The exhibition “Works in Progress” at the Galerie Gmurzynska presents for the first time an extensive overview of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s works in progress, rendered through imaginative sketches, drawings and photo collages. These comprise the site-specific land art sculpture “The Mastaba” which Christo and the late Jeanne-Claude had conceived as early as 1977 for the dramatic sand desert landscape surrounding Abu Dhabi. “The Mastaba” presents an enigmatic cuboid shape particular to the Islamic architectural tradition of the tribes and noble families of the Arab peninsula. Conceived as the largest sculpture in the world with a total height of 150 meters, became the artist duo’s only permanent large-scale work. The second work in on view is “Over the River”, a project first conceived in 1992. The installation comprises nearly six miles of silver-toned fabric panels suspended atop a section of the Arkansas river in Colorado, which will create continuously changing visual fields. At the beginning of 2015, Christo received the news that the Federal District Court upheld the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of the proposed work, marking a major victory toward making this two-week temporary work of art a reality. The exhibition provides a first look at Christo and Jeanne Claude’s most recent project “Floating Piers”. Beginning in June 2016, Italy’s lake iseo, 100 kilometers East of Milan, will be connected by 70,000 square meters of shimmering yellow fabric, which covers a floating dock system, undulating with the movement of the waves. Made in collaboration with Germano Celant, artistic Director of the Fondazione Prada, “Floating Piers” is slated to take place in the summer of 2016, from 18/6 to 3/7.After the 16-day exhibition, all components will be removed and industrially recycled.
Info: Curator: Germano Celant, Galerie Gmurzynska, Via Serlas 22, St. Moritz, Duration: 15/2-30/3/16, Days & Hours: Daily 11:00-19:00, www.gmurzynska.com
