Christo: The Gates, Central Park

[Edward]

NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/19/nyregion/19PARK.html

December 19, 2002
Artist's Plan to Drape Central Park in Fabric Is Approved
By ROBIN POGREBIN


A scaled-down version of a plan by the artist Christo to festoon 26 miles of Central Park's walkways with swatches of translucent saffron-colored fabric has been given a crucial vote of support by the Central Park Conservancy, which helps manage the park.

The project, which would be installed in February and remain in place for two weeks, still awaits approval by the city's parks department, but the vote on Monday by the Conservancy's board is significant. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, too, has said he supports the project, making approval by the parks department likelier.

The project was rejected in 1981 in the wake of vehement opposition to what was seen by critics as a gross intrusion into the city's most beloved and important green space.

This time, a "policy statement" approved by a majority of the park conservancy's board concluded that the project "could move forward without damage to the park and without impeding the recreational use of the park by the public," provided that issues including financing and security were resolved.

Evelyn H. Lauder, who serves on the conservancy committee that studied the project, said: "My position has always been caution in terms of ecological impact. All those problems have been answered by them. So I'm very happy because I think it is a very exciting and dynamic possibility."

In a much-chronicled career, the Bulgarian-born artist and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, have wrapped the German Reichstag and the Pont Neuf in Paris in cloth. They surrounded part of the coast of Australia in sand-colored fabric, hung an orange curtain across a gap in the Grand Hogback Mountain Range in Colorado and dispersed several thousand umbrellas across southern California.

The Central Park project would include a trail of thousands of rectangular steel gates, each 15 feet tall, supporting individual panels of billowing cloth that would outline the park's winding promenades. The gates would begin at the park's pedestrian entrances and continue at nine-foot intervals.

Among the Central Park Conservancy board members to vote in favor this time was Gordon J. Davis, who as parks commissioner 21 years ago rejected the project in a 107-page document that concluded the project was "in the wrong place at the wrong time and in the wrong scale."

Among those to vote against the project on Monday was Richard Gilder, an investment manager who pledged a $17 million challenge grant to refurbish the Great Lawn and is a conservancy founding trustee.

The conservancy's approval came with the condition that the work, known as "the Gates project," undergo significant modification: construction and installation with no excavation; fewer than 7,500 gates rather than the 15,000 originally proposed; no interference with trees or sensitive park areas like the reservoir and Ramble; and minimal use of large trucks and forklifts. The board also stipulated that the February installation date replace the original October proposal.

The conservancy still wants more information on such issues as the project's financing, the impact on wildlife, and what will be done to keep parkgoers off grassy areas where bulbs are growing.

The project has been given new life in part because of support from the mayor, who has generally championed the importance of public art, particularly since the events of Sept. 11. Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris said it was premature to comment on the development.

Christo collaborates on his creations with his wife, and they finance their projects themselves from sales of Christo's work. Reached yesterday by phone at home in Manhattan, Jeanne-Claude said she was unaware of the conservancy's support. "We don't even know that," she said.

To the artists, the process of seeking approval is part of the art itself. "The negotiation is part of the artistic focus," Mrs. Lauder of the conservancy said. "To eliminate obstacles is part of what they perceive as their process."

[Edward]

November 23, 2004

Christo 'Gates' Arriving in Central Park Next Week

By CAROL VOGEL


A collage depicting part of Christo's plan to bring saffron to Central Park next February, the culmination of a quarter century of effort.

The artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude's installation of 7,500 gates in Central Park will begin next week, it was announced yesterday.

"The Gates," as they are called, will be festooned with saffron-colored fabric panels and will line 23 miles of pedestrian paths from Feb. 12 to 27. They are being made in Queens and are nearly finished. The artists say they have been working on the project for 20 years.

Details of the installation were announced at a news conference by Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris; Parks and Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe; Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin; Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein; and Cristyne L. Nicholas, the chief executive of NYC & Company, the city's tourism marketing group.

Materials, including the 15,000 steel bases needed to support "The Gates," will begin arriving in the park on Dec. 1.

While they are on view, the Central Park Conservancy will set up what officials there call warming huts throughout Central Park. They will also offer information on the project and sell souvenirs like posters, postcards, T-shirts and maps to support Nurture New York's Nature Inc., a nonprofit organization for the arts and the environment.

For 18 months organizing the installation has been like pulling together "a military operation,'' Mr. Benepe said.

In addition to the logistics of the installation itself, there is the issue of providing proper security while the park has tourists from around the world. Yesterday Mr. Benepe said additional security would be provided by the Parks Department along with private security provided by the artists.

Guided trolley and walking tours will be offered, and the Metropolitan Museum will open its roof to visitors for the first time during the winter.

For schoolchildren, the New York City Department of Education has created an instructional guide that is being distributed through the city school system.

" 'The Gates' are for everyone,'' Deputy Mayor Harris said. "Public art is wonderful, surprising, amusing and sometimes confusing. The Christos do not accept sponsorship. The city will bear no expense.''

The artists have historically paid for all their public art projects, which over the years included wrapping the Reichstag in Berlin with more than a million square feet of aluminum-colored fabric and swathing the Pont Neuf in Paris with champagne-colored textile, through the sale of their artworks. They estimate "The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979-2005'' will cost about $20 million.

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Edward]

January 4, 2005

Work Begins on Colossal Artwork-in-the-Park

By CAROL VOGEL


One of Christo's drawings for "The Gates," works that are being sold to help finance the giant project.

Under the watchful gaze of the creators, a crew of roughly 100 workers began lowering thousands of steel bases onto the walkways of Central Park yesterday in preparation for the biggest public art project the city has ever seen, at least since the park itself was designed in 1857: "The Gates," by the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

The workers, who ranged from musicians to out-of-work actors to forklift operators, gathered at 7 a.m. at the Central Park Boathouse for a briefing by, among others, the artists. A little while later, at the staging area at 102nd Street just beneath the Harlem Meer, where the steel bases were stacked, men and women in yellow vests waved orange caution flags at pedestrians while others, wielding measuring tapes and string, began carefully placing the bases in areas designated with a stenciled maple leaf, about 12 feet apart. Eventually, the bases will support 7,500 gates festooned with saffron-colored fabric panels along 23 miles of the park's pedestrian walkways - from 59th Street to 110th Street, east and west.

The $20 million project, a quarter-century in the making and financed by the artists, will go on full view on Feb. 12 and remain until Feb. 27. It is expected to attract thousands of art lovers from around the world. The artists are trying to create "a visual golden river appearing and disappearing through the bare branches of the trees, highlighting the shapes of the footpaths," according to a brochure explaining the project. The color was chosen to cast a warm glow over the park at a gray time of year.

Though Christo and his collaborator and wife, Jeanne-Claude, were in the park yesterday greeting the crews, most days Christo has been closeted in his SoHo studio making drawings of the gates as fast as he can. As soon as he finishes a work, Jeanne-Claude gets in touch with an interested collector or museum to try to sell it in order to pay for "The Gates."

"He only has 40 more days left to make the preparatory drawings," Jeanne-Claude said in a telephone interview on Sunday. "Once 'The Gates' are up, Christo stops drawing."

In 2004, she said, the couple sold $15.1 million worth of Christo's creations, everything from recent drawings of "The Gates" to a sculpture of a life-size storefront dating from 1964, which the Würth Museum in Kunzelsau, Germany, bought for $3 million. They also sold a significant amount of work in 2003 that will go toward the current project's cost.

In addition to the passionate collectors from around the world who have bought their work, Jeanne-Claude said, museums like the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the San Diego Museum in La Jolla and the Würth Museum have all purchased drawings of "The Gates." The largest of these have been selling for $600,000.

The artists have historically sold their work to pay for all their public art projects. Over the years, these have included wrapping the Reichstag in Berlin with more than a million square feet of aluminum-colored fabric and swathing the Pont Neuf in Paris with a champagne-hued textile.

Two years ago, when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg first announced that "The Gates" would come to Central Park, he, along with officials from the New York City Parks Department and the Central Park Conservancy, emphasized that the project would not cost the city a penny. Christo and Jeanne-Claude are responsible for paying for all materials, labor and installation. They have also agreed to pay the city for additional security during the period that "The Gates" is on view.

The city's Economic Development Corporation estimates that the project will generate more than $80 million in revenue for New York during a traditionally dead winter month. NYC & Company, the city's tourism marketing group, said that once visitors made the pilgrimage to see "The Gates," they would also be staying at hotels and going to restaurants, museums, Broadway shows and other attractions, adding up to a significant economic boost for the city. (In 1981, the New York City Parks Department denied the artists a permit to put up "The Gates," which at that point involved drilling holes in the ground to stabilize the steel supports. Over the years, however, Christo and Jeanne-Claude have modified the project considerably.)

For several months the cafe in the Central Park Boathouse has been taking reservations for lunch and dinner during the 16-day exhibition. Officials at the Metropolitan Museum, whose rooftop is being opened especially for visitors to view the project, say both its trustees' dining room and its Petrie Court cafe have been taking reservations for the same period.

Turning "The Gates" from the artists' 26-year dream into a reality has taken years of planning and testing. Vince Davenport, the chief engineer and director of construction, and his wife, Jonita, the project director, have been working alongside Christo and Jeanne-Claude since 1989 - for the last three years exclusively on "The Gates." At their home in Leavenworth, Wash., they created a life-size test where 18 gates were installed for seven months through the rains, snow and high winds of winter.

"I'm under the gun now," Mr. Davenport said. "I sleep till about 4 o'clock, and then my stomach starts churning." He has supervised every detail that has gone into the making of the gates themselves, from finding the right materials - which include more than 5,000 tons of steel, about two-thirds of the amount used to make the Eiffel Tower - to figuring out with park officials how to get the materials from assembly plants in Queens into the park in a way that does not disturb the public, to making sure the installation is as simple as putting together a giant Lego set.

"There are so many details," he said. "You have to be ready for anything." He has bought 150 snow shovels to clean the paths, in case it snows.

From a trailer adjacent to the Central Park Boathouse, the Davenports run a command center. Mrs. Davenport handles the day-to-day details. She also hired the crew of 1,100 workers, who have come from 45 different states.

The couple moved to New York two years ago to work on "The Gates." It is by far their biggest logistical undertaking, bigger than wrapping the Reichstag or planting a forest of giant umbrellas in rice paddies near Tokyo.

"You cannot overplan something like this," Mrs. Davenport said. "Our children are grown up, so we can devote 110 percent to the project."

Describing the workers, she said, "We have retired Air Force people, doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, teachers." Many people who work on Christo and Jeanne-Claude's projects, she explained, have had experience in the film industry or in organizing events like rock concerts. There are several different kinds of workers; the most inexperienced are paid the minimum wage, $6 an hour, plus one free hot meal a day; professional workers, like the forklift operators, are paid a salary for the entire project.

All the hiring was done by e-mail messages. Once word spread that they were gearing up for "The Gates," Mrs. Davenport said, she received inquiries from more than 2,000 applicants, out of which she chose 1,100.

"Christo and Jeanne-Claude give first preference to local workers," Mrs. Davenport said. "And to those who have worked on previous projects. They recognize loyalty."

Each worker gets a special "Gates" uniform (to keep) designed by Christo. Jeanne-Claude declined to describe it, saying she was afraid that if she did, there would be a rash of knockoffs for sale.

Traditionally, Mrs. Davenport said, the workers are a jovial group. "Lots of long-lasting friendships are made," she said. "There's always a baby born after every project. But this one is in winter, so we'll have to see."


Thousands of steel bases will hold "The Gates," an artwork by Christo and Jeanne-Claude now being installed in Central Park.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[Edward]

Christo's Gates - near Conservatory Garden. 9 January 2005.

[Edward]

The installation of Christo Gates continues. Sheep Meadow. 8 February 2005.

[Edward]

Newsday: February 8, 2005

'The Gates' shall be unfurled
Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude see their fleeting installation finally come to fruition

BY ARIELLA BUDICK
STAFF WRITER

Why would any artist devote decades of planning and millions of dollars to create a new project with the intention of destroying it a few weeks later?

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who long ago became famous for draping fabric across buildings, canyons and entire counties, first proposed festooning Central Park in 1979. Three mayors and countless hearings later, the couple has spent $21 million on "The Gates," a 23-mile procession of billowing, saffron-colored curtains that will be unfurled Saturday and dismantled on Feb. 28.

Why it's transitory

"One of our workers on the night shift asked me why is it temporary," Jeanne-Claude says. "I told him to think of the rainbow. And he grabbed my arm and says, 'I think I got it: If the gates were there all the time, after a while nobody would be looking at them and the magic would be gone.' And I said, 'You've got it better than most art historians.'"

Precisely because it is such a colossal undertaking, the transience of "The Gates" is central to the project's meaning. Ours is an era of great migrations, in which whole populations live with the feeling that shelter is fragile and landscape can be suddenly reshaped. The artists themselves are transplants to New York - he from Bulgaria, she from France - and their work reflects the sense of impermanence.

"Nomads one day arrive and they unfold their fabric tent and they build an entire town, and weeks later they fold up their tents and they are gone, and this nomadic quality is reflected in the fabric," says Jeanne-Claude. Then, as if to offer assurance that "The Gates" will be no didactic enterprise but a thing of visceral beauty, she segues into a different metaphor. "Fabric is also sensual, like a second skin," she says. "It moves in the wind. It is alive."

The installation has an economic life, too. It has generated more than 1,000 temporary jobs. It will probably lure hundreds of thousands of tourists who will buy meals and Broadway tickets. Sales of related posters and merchandise will benefit the nonprofit organizations Nurture New York's Nature and the Central Park Conservancy.

But nobody gets rich: The artists sell preparatory sketches, as well as works they have been hoarding for decades, and that revenue covers the expenses of this extravaganza or gets plowed into the next, a project over the Arkansas River in Colorado. If the weather or some other glitch drives up the cost by $1 million or $2 million of the artists' own money, then so be it.

"Each work is like a child of ours," Jeanne-Claude shrugs. "A father and a mother do not have a budget for a child."

Speaking as one

In the months leading up to opening day, the gangly Christo has been cloistered in the studio above the couple's SoHo loft, churning out the drawings and collages that will be the only permanent trace of "The Gates" once the vinyl poles and the nylon material have been recycled. He sleeps just a few hours a night, eats hurried meals of raw garlic with yogurt, and gives no interviews.

His partner waves all such requests away, explaining that they have fused into a single entity: Christo and Jeanne-Claude. "I live with him for 47 years, and I know exactly what he would have said. We do everything together - except we don't fly together, I do not draw and Christo never works with our accountant."

Like most of the pair's other projects - wrapping the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont Neuf in Paris, spanning a valley in Colorado, stretching a cloth fence across Sonoma and Marin counties in northern California, dotting whole landscapes with thousands of bright umbrellas - "The Gates" had to overcome a mountain range of logistical barriers. The city equivocated and objected until their fan Michael Bloomberg became mayor. Then it was just a matter of turning 5,290 tons of steel into 15,000 supports capable of withstanding February bluster, without damaging the Central Park turf or pathways.

The obstacles and the expense, while central to the process, have tended to arouse hostility, which usually takes the form of accusations that the artists are wasteful publicity-seekers. Christo and Jeanne-Claude both deny and embrace those criticisms.

"If the project was a movie set for Hollywood ... there would be no opposition," Christo told the art historian Jonathan Fineberg, discussing a work that involved encircling 11 Miami islets in floating fabric. "The great power of the project is that it's absolutely irrational, and that disturbs, angers the sound human perception of a capitalist society. That is also a part of the project ... to put in doubt all the values of everything."

Will it work in New York?

According to John Elderfield, chief curator at the Museum of Modern Art, such large, theatrical and subversive work belongs in a tradition of the politically charged avant-garde of the Russian Revolution. It's hard to know how well that social critique will translate to New York City. "Public art thrives best in periods where there are widely understood communal beliefs," Elderfield says. "How can this work in a city where nobody agrees about anything? Therefore, there's something wonderfully ingenuous about the wish to do it."

Fomenting doubt about social conventions is not the same as spreading confusion, however. Perhaps because they have mystified so many people over the course of their joint career, Christo and Jeanne-Claude insist on fact-checking every article about themselves (including this one). Their Web site ([url="http://www.christojeanneclaude/"]www.christojeanneclaude[/url] .net) features a list of common journalistic errors, such as the recommendation: "See the artwork best by flying." The written retort resonates with Jeanne-Claude's Gallic scorn: "No! None of their work is designed for the birds, all have a scale to be enjoyed by human beings who are on the ground."

Nothing annoys them more than to be described as "wrap artists," since they also put fabric to many other uses. "When people think that we wrap everything, it means that they don't have eyes," Jeanne-Claude sputters. "It's close to cretinism."

As for the charge that they are merely chasing fame, Jeanne-Claude's answer is that their desire for recognition is profoundly human and inseparable from their desire to be good at their job. "If someone is the best garbage collector in town, he is proud of being known as the best garbage collector," she says. "Or butcher or baker."

Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.

[Edward]

Christo's Gates around the Central Park's Pond, with Plaza Hotel. 9 February 2005.

[Edward]

February 10, 2005

Central Park Makeover: Reality Show, in a Way

By CAROL VOGEL


The volunteers installing Christo's "Gates" in Central Park share a resolve to be a part of the city's biggest public-art happening ever.


Paid volunteers raising part of the "Gates" installation in Central Park.

Slide Show: It's a Wrap

Video: Work Begins on "The Gates"

t 6:45 a.m. on Tuesday, as the sun was beginning to rise over Central Park, the Loeb Boathouse was buzzing. The artist Christo stood outside, admiring the way the soft morning light bathed the orange gates that teams of workers had put into place on Monday.

It was Day Two of installing his vast $20 million public art project, created with his wife, Jeanne-Claude, and there was a sense that there was no time to lose. So far, 261 16-foot-tall gates had sprouted around the park. By tomorrow evening, 7,500 will have to be in place along the park's pedestrian walkways from 59th Street to 110th Street, in time for the saffron-colored fabric that adorns the gates to be unfurled around 8:30 on Saturday morning. (The project will remain through Feb. 27.)

Inside the boathouse, the 600-odd paid volunteers enlisted for the five-day job were chatting over coffee and rolls, waiting to head off to their assigned areas. Things had gotten off to a slow start on Monday. It had taken time for the workers to assemble, find their work areas and figure out the most efficient way to work.

Still, every team seemed competitively conscious of its accomplishments. "We installed 27 gates yesterday," boasted Ann W. Richards, the former governor from Texas.

"There's something magical about people coming together for a common purpose without something for them to gain," she added. "I'm having a ball."

"There's real energy," agreed Antoine Douaihy, who oversees 150 people in 14 teams as the leader of Area One - extending from 59th Street to 65th Street and from Fifth Avenue to Central Park West - and in real life works in film production. "One team refused to stop until they had put up 25 gates."

Also savoring the scene was Anne L. Strauss, a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art who organized an exhibition of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's "Gates"-related drawings, collages, photographs and maps last year. "There are a lot of art people here," she said.

While each team seemed diverse in age and profession, from college students to retired teachers and doctors, all had a common bond: a resolve to be a part of the city's biggest public-art happening ever.

By 7:30 a.m., after a pep talk from Vince Davenport, the project's chief engineer and construction director, and from Capt. Andrew Capul, commanding officer of the Central Park Precinct, everyone headed off to their assigned areas.

Although Mr. Douaihy called the 261 gates installed on Monday a "respectable" figure, he said that 400 to 500 more would have to go up Tuesday if the effort was to be completed by Friday.

Cruising around the park in a golf cart, he consulted with Guy Efrat, one of the area's so-called "zone supervisors." (Each area is divided into zones, and each zone into teams.) Mr. Efrat, who also works in movie production, was overseeing three teams in Mr. Douaihy's area.

Like mutual strangers in a reality television show, each team felt somewhat randomly thrown together. But often, the common strand was art: Area One, Section 10, for instance, was made up of a performance artist, an advertising art director, a retired doctor/Yale University professor, a sculptor/gilder, an architect, an architectural draftsman, a freelance stagehand and a recent college graduate who is on his way to become an intern at the Chinati Foundation, a contemporary-art organization in Marfa, Tex.

"I've never seen so many artsy people in my life," said Huascar Pimentel, the stagehand, who is one of the professional workers that was assigned to the team. "These guys are great - they don't mind getting their hands dirty."

Nor did the men mind taking directions from a woman, although some of them joked about it. ("You don't see this much cooperation in the workplace," said Robert Steigelman, the advertising art director.) Catherine Courter, the sculptor and gilder, had been named the team's captain by the organizers. Michael Bianco, the recent graduate, and Arvin Garay-Cruz, the architect, had been asked to be the "levelers," the team members who made sure that the steel plates anchoring the poles in heavy bases were installed correctly.

Each worker had attended a four-hour training session last week where the professionals took notes on those who demonstrated leadership ability (potential team captains) or mechanical ability (levelers).

It took only about three minutes for the workers to actually hoist a gate into place. The hard part was using the right size horizontal poles (which depended on the width of walkways) and wielding nuts, bolts and wrenches to attach parts like the orange boxlike sleeves that conceal the metal plates. And some spots were more difficult than others. On heavily trafficked paths, installers often had to stop working to let pedestrians pass. Hilly or narrow paths were harder to work on.

And then there was the saccharine music emanating nonstop from the ice rink. And the remarks of passersby. "I can't work it out - it horrifies me that this is costing $20 million, I don't care who's paying for it," a man carrying a briefcase said as he hurried past the workers of Area One, Section 10, on West 59th Street behind the Wollman Skating Rink.

Still, most people who stopped to chat had positive reactions. "I'm not sure about the color, but I'm a fan," Douglas F. Eaton, a United States District Court judge, said after his daily round of skating.

On Monday the team members installed only 18 gates. But by 10:15 on Tuesday morning they were already putting up the 11th of the day. The key was establishing a rhythm: one person repeatedly readied the equipment for the levelers, and the levelers would begin their task as others trundled the gates over to their assigned positions.

"This is my cheap and cheerful vacation," Robert Condon, the architectural draftsman, said, holding a pole in position. By noon the team headed back to the boathouse for lunch, leaving Mr. Pimentel behind to watch the equipment. (That job rotates among teammates each day.)

"Can you believe it, this was conceived the year I was born?" Mr. Cruz, 26, said as the group ambled toward the boathouse. (Christo and Jeanne-Claude have been working on "The Gates" since 1979.)

"If you look at one gate, it's ugly, it looks like a guillotine," he mused. "It's the multiplicity of them that makes it a total artwork."

"The more go up, the cooler it looks," Ms. Courter agreed over lunch in the packed boathouse. Team members sat together, chatting happily while keeping a wary ear open to find out how many gates the other teams had installed.

Then it was back to their assigned area near the rink. By 4 p.m., Area One, Section 10, had managed to install a total of 35 gates. Exhausted, the team members returned their supplies to a nearby staging area and began planning for Wednesday.

After ticking off the completed gates on a map, Ms. Courter started counting those that would have to be installed on Wednesday.

"Thirty-five again tomorrow," she said. "No problem."

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

[Edward]

Christo's Gates near the Central Park's Merchants' Gates, with Time Warner Center. 9 February 2005.