Archinect - News

Christo and Jeanne Claude’s Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped to be recycled for Paris Olympic Games

2023-09-20T11:55:00-04:00

The Mayor of Paris has announced that Christo and Jeanne Claude’s Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped installation is to be recycled for use in the city’s upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games. As reported by ARTnews, the effort will be led by the environmental organization Parley for the Oceans.

Under the plans, 269,000 square feet of blue polypropylene fabric and 9,800 feet of red polypropylene rope will be recycled. The recycling of the fabric and rope is in addition to the reuse of the wood and steel substructures which have already been reused by carpentry and steel producers.

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

“The fabric and ropes will be recycled into shade structures, tents or barnums for our next major events in Paris, in particular the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Paris Mayor Anne Hildago said in a statement reported by ARTnews. “This is a very fine example of the art world’s ability to adapt to climate challenges.”

The installation w...

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, master of monumental art, has died

2020-06-01T14:28:00-04:00

The artist Christo, who with his late wife and partner Jeanne-Claude was known for his monumental, often whimsical interventions on architecture and landscape, has died, aged 84. The artist’s studio confirmed on Twitter that he died at his home in New York [...]

Due to the scale and spatial nature of their art, Christo and Jeanne-Claude have made frequent appearances in the Archinect news over the years.

Recently on Archinect: Christo comes to Paris in 2020 to wrap the Arc de Triomphe

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).

Christo comes to London

2018-04-11T15:57:00-04:00

And now he’s going to float a 150-tonne sculpture on a lake on London. Is it an allegory of the west’s oil dependency, an indictment of how we’re polluting the planet, or both? Christo shakes his locks and smiles. “I have no reason to justify myself as an artist. I cannot explain my art. Everything I do professionally is irrational and useless.” This, he thinks, is exactly as it should be. “I make things that have no function – except maybe to make pleasure.”

Artist Christo chats about his new Mastaba sculpture coming to London this summer: a giant trapezoidal prism of 7,506 stacked steel barrels to float on the Serpentine Lake. It will be his first large artwork in Britain.

Christo, The Mastaba (Project for London, Hyde Park, Serpentine Lake), Collage 2017 Pencil, wax crayon, enamel paint, color photograph by Wolfgang Volz, technical data and tape on brown board, 21.5 x 28 cm, Private collection, Switzerland. Photo: André Grossmann © 2017 Christo

Plans for a much bigger Mastaba with 410,000 barrels outside of Abu Dhabi first appeared several years ago but were never realized.

The accompanying exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Barrels and The Mastaba (1958–2018) will be on view from June 19 through September 9 at the nearby Serpentine Gallery.

Christo abandons $15 million U.S.-based river project as protest against "landlord" Trump

2017-01-31T12:46:00-05:00

Christo's proposed silver-fabric-panel draped "Over the River" project has been in the making for about 25 years, after he started hunting for a natural host site in 1992 and then gradually garnered the neccessary official approvals and permits over the following decades for a 42-mile stretch along the Colorado River. However, the artist is abandoning the $15 million dollar project as a protest against President Trump, explaining that “The federal government is our landlord. They own the land. And I can’t do a project that benefits this landlord.” Although it's doubtful that the official landlord would appreciate the nuance and splendor of Christo's work, the people of Colorado would have undoubtedly benefitted economically from tourists.

Want Christo to make a US/Mexico border wall? Sign the petition!

2017-01-11T11:55:00-05:00

Dear President-Elect Donald Trump: Please commission U.S. artist Christo’s with the creation of a new a version of his Running Fence to separate the U.S. from Mexico. His first project in Sonoma was completed in 1976 with great success. Though only 24.5 miles long then, in full length today it would transform a racist project into a public art event, and help improve the image of the U.S. with a cultural veneer.

Let's talk about money in architecture

2015-02-25T13:00:00-05:00

Although money is often seen as a taboo topic in art schools, a group of Yale alumni is urging professional architects to place more value on the relationship between money and architecture. The Yale Architectural Journal’s latest edition, titled “Money,” discusses the controversial role of money in the field of architecture. [...] ranging from Frank Gehry to Yale School of Architecture Professor Keller Easterling, the issue urges architects to reconsider the financial side of their work.

More about Perspecta 47: Money here.

Clinton's keynote, Boston's Olympics, and California's bullet train groundbreaking: Weekly News Round-Up for January 5, 2015

2015-01-12T15:33:00-05:00

Friday, January 9:

Boston wins U.S. Olympic Committee's bid for 2024 Games: Beating out Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC, Boston's Olympic campaign estimates it can finance the Games with $4.5B in private funds and $5B or so in publicly-funded infrastructural projects.

Thursday, January 8:

Archinect Sessions is back with Episode 11, "Another year, Another Architecture", with the multi-talented Mitch McEwen: Mitch talks opportunity and collaboration in Detroit, and opines on architecture's shifting professional identity.
Five firms shortlisted for Mackintosh Library renovation after devastating fire: Glasgow School of Art will choose between Avanti Architects, John McAslan + Partners, LDN Architects LLP, Page \ Park Architects and Purcell by the end of March 2015.

Wednesday, January 7:

Driving in the US is coming to a standstill, and that's a good thing: The Federal Highway Administration released a report anticipating no-change in driving per capita, which means less money al...

Christo wins court judgement, keeping alive his vision for 5.9 miles of silver fabric above the Arkansas River

2015-01-06T00:19:00-05:00

[ROAR] is concerned about the effects of the $50 million project, which will drill 9,100 holes into the ground, some as deep as 30 feet, and require a crew of 3,000 workers to install over a 27-month period. The area is a habitat for Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep, bald eagles, and Peregrine falcons, and the livelihoods of many locals depend on it.

Big Air Package: The Largest Inflated Envelope in History by Christo

2013-03-18T14:30:00-04:00

Big Air Package is the latest project from artist Christo installed at the Gasometer Oberhausen in Germany, a facility that still holds the record as the largest disc-type gas holder in Europe that was converted into an exhibition hall in the 1990s. Big Air Package is the largest ever inflated envelope without aid of a skeleton (Gasometer Oberhausen bills it as the largest indoor sculpture in history) and reaches 90 meters high, with a diameter of 50 meters and a volume of 177,000 cubic meters.

Conceptual artist Christo is building a gigantic sculpture out of oil barrels in Abu Dhabi

2012-11-26T16:08:00-05:00

Christo is creating for Abu Dhabi a colossal structure that he claims will be the world's biggest permanent sculpture. Estimated construction costs of $340m (£212m) would also make it the world's most expensive. A 150-metre-high, flat-topped pyramid would be taller than St Paul's Cathedral or St Peter's Basilica and would overshadow the Great Pyramid of Giza – creating Abu Dhabi's answer to Egypt's pyramids or Mecca's Kaaba.

Christo's Colorado 'Over the River' project wins federal approval

2011-11-08T17:08:29-05:00

There are many ways to measure the massiveness of “Over the River,” the project that artist Christo is championing for Colorado's Arkansas River Valley. Amount of fabric: 5.9 miles. Cost: Up to $50 million. Size of environmental impact statement: 1,686 pages.

Jeanne-Claude, Collaborator With Christo, Died

2009-11-19T14:15:00-05:00

via the NYTimes...
Jeanne-Claude, who collaborated with her husband, Christo, on dozens of environmental arts projects, notably the wrapping of the Pont Neuf in Paris and the Reichstag in Berlin and the installation of 7,503 vinyl gates with saffron-colored nylon panels in Central Park, died Thursday in Manhattan, where she lived. She was 74. nytimes

'Over The River' Christo

2006-07-08T20:27:00-04:00

Christo and Jeanne-Claude have agreed to pay for an environmental impact study of their plan to hang seven miles of fabric over the Arkansas River in south-central Colorado -- a move that could push back the work of art to 2010.
"Each fabric panel, it is like waves," Christo said.
"Silvery waves," added Jeanne-Claude.
"It will move in the wind and from a raft, below, it is loosely woven so you can see clouds and formations of the mountains," Christo said.
he said she said here is the story;cbs4denver, w/ video news

Over the River

2006-01-29T09:46:00-05:00

After Reichstag and the Central Park it's time for the The Arkansas River. Christo and Jeanne Claude are busy again.
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Life After Gates

2005-09-23T10:28:00-04:00

Touching moments: Christo and Jeanne-Claude were in Paris on a barge beneath the Pont Neuf, directing the wrapping of that historic bridge. A piece of fabric broke loose, fluttering over the Seine, the sun shining through it, catching the dancing reflection of the waters beneath it. Their eyes met in an "aha!" moment. Years later, that moment became the inspiration for translucent fabric panels floating over moving water. C&J-C Over the River

Christo in Central Park

2004-11-23T13:02:00-05:00

Word on the street is that Christo is going to be doing some wrapping at Central Park. From the CBC