Archinect - News

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s wrapped Arc de Triomphe is open to the public

2021-09-23T10:59:00-04:00

L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, Paris, 1961-2021, an installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, has opened to the public in Paris. The installation, which will be on view from September 18th to October 3rd 2021, sees the famous landmark wrapped in 25,000 square meters (270,000 sqft) of recyclable silvery blue polypropylene fabric, and 3,000 meters (10,000 ft) of recyclable red polypropylene rope.

Photo: Benjamin Loyseau. Copyright: 2021 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

The project is the culmination of a 60-year vision by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, which began in 1961 when Christo imagined wrapping the Arc de Triomphe in fabric. In 1962 and 1963, he created a photomontage of the idea; a collage which he repeated again in 1988. In 2017, he began actively developing the idea, leading to this week’s public opening. “It will be like a living object which will move in the wind and reflect the light,” said Christo, who passed away in 2020. “With its moving folds, the monument’s surface wil...

Look at photos of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's nearly complete L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped

2021-09-15T19:33:00-04:00

The long-awaited wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe by the late artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude is nearing completion ahead of its official September 18th debut.

A 95-member team of technicians is working to unfurl over 25,000 square meters (82,000 square feet) of the duo’s signature polypropylene fabric that will completely envelop the iconic Parisian monument that was originally commissioned by Napoleon I in 1806.

It had been the couple’s dream to wrap to monument since 1962 when Christo and Jeanne-Claude occupied an apartment on the nearby Avenue Foch, where the Bulgarian immigré produced a photomontage of the wrapping that took sixty years to actualize.

Now, with workers abseiling down the face of the 50-meter tall Arc, the
duo’s vision has finally come together thanks to an exhaustive body of
drawings and other technical specifications left behind b...

Watch Christo and Jeanne-Claude's L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped get installed live

2021-08-17T17:19:00-04:00

Late artists Christo and wife Jeanne-Claude’s L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped is currently being installed in Paris. This project is finally being realized 60 years after the pair’s original conception of the idea.

The iconic monument is being wrapped with almost 25,000 square meters of silvery-blue fabric made of recyclable polypropylene and 3,000 meters of red rope. Over the course of six decades, Christo and Jeanne-Claude have worked on an array of similar works, including a wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin, the Pont Neuf in Paris, and a 1.5-mile-long section of an Australian coastline.

Previously on Archinect: Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 'L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped' to open in September

Inspiration for L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped came when Christo became enamored by the structure while living in a nearby rented room in 1961. A year later, he made a photomontage of the planned project, and fast forward to 1988, he revisited the idea and created a collage of the work.

The installati...

Christo and Jeanne-Claude's 'L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped' to open in September

2021-06-15T14:22:00-04:00

Originally planned for spring 2020, L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped was delayed due to the pandemic. It will enrobe the Champs-Élysées landmark in almost 25,000 sq. m of silvery blue fabric, made of recyclable polypropylene, and 7,000 metres of red rope.

Following the pandemic-forced cancellation of the original spring 2020 event and the death of the co-creator Christo in June of that same year, the monumental, temporary work of art L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped has been revived to be on view after all, from Saturday, September 18 to Sunday, October 3, 2021.

At Geo – Die Luftwerker, a company in Lübeck, Germany, 25,000 square meters of recyclable polypropylene fabric are sewn into panels for "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped." Photo: Wolfgang Volz © 2020 Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation

Per Christo's wishes, the project will be completed by his team in partnership with the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (CMN), the government institution that manages the Arc de Triomphe.

"Thirty-six years after the Pont-Neuf, one of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's most ambitious projects will finally see the light of day”, said Paris Mayor, Anne Hidalgo. "More than a year after Christo's death, Paris is continuing the work of this great artist, giving us the ...

Christo comes to Paris in 2020 to wrap the Arc de Triomphe

2019-04-03T14:17:00-04:00

The artist Christo has announced plans to wrap the Arc de Triomphe in Paris next spring, covering the Champs-Élysées landmark with almost 25,000 sq. m of silvery blue fabric, made of recyclable polypropylene, and 7,000 metres of red rope. The piece, entitled L’Arc de Triomphe Wrapped (Project for Paris, Place de l’Etoile-Charles de Gaulle), which will be on view 6-19 April 2020, will be overseen by officials at the government body the Centre des Monuments Nationaux and the Centre Pompidou.

"Its realization will coincide with a major exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou, from March 18 to June 15, 2020, retracing Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s years in Paris from 1958 to 1964, as well as the story of The Pont-Neuf Wrapped, Project for Paris, 1975-85," explains the artist's announcement.

Christo, The Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, Place de l'Etoile, Charles de Gaulle, Paris, Collage 2019, 11 x 8 1/2” (28 x 21.5 cm), Pencil, wax crayon, enamel paint, photograph by Wolfgang Volz and tape, Photo: André Grossmann © 2019 Christo

Last summer, Christo presented his first large artwork in Britain: the 150-tonne Mastaba sculpture floating on the Serpentine Lake in London, while the nearby Serpentine Gallery showed the accompanying exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Barrels and The Mastaba (1958–2018).

Protective wrap covers historical structures near French Fire

2014-08-07T15:22:00-04:00

Archaeologists are working with other firefighters to protect several historical guard stations using, what's essentially a protective foil wrap. Crews rushed this weekend to cover five historical cabins at the Placer Guard Station. "We ordered this wrap," said archaeologist Ward Stanley. "It looks like tin foil. "It's pretty simple, you just wrap the house in a shingle-type fashion so it's overlapping going down so the stuff that goes down doesn't get into the cracks," Stanley said.

h/t BLDGBLOG