Lesson 2

Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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: [email protected]

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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.

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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;

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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 wide26 meters high92,000 sq metres of erosion-control fabric56 km of polipropylene rope25,000 clips and studs to secure the rope to rocks15 pro climbers110 workersDuration of the artwork: 10 weeks

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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

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http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/videos/wrapped-coast

http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/videos/interview-with-christo-about-wrapped-coast

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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

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

http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/videos/origin-of-christo-and-jeanne-claudes-over-the-river

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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

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http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/videos/why-do-christo-and-jeanne-claude-use-fabric

http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/videos/why-are-christo-and-jeanne-claudes-projects-temporary

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrPQSf4HhjM&feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqUwmRJILr0&feature=relmfu

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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 agenciesUSA: 25 private landowners as well as governmental agencies.

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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

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

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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

- flamingo pink floating fabric surrounded the islands;

2 weeks duration11km wrapping total area

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

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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

- 5 mt high39 km long from Freeway 101 to the Ocean59 private properties crossed42 months of work200,000 sq metres of woven white nylon fabric2050 steel poles in the ground14,000 earth anchores2,050 fabric panels350,000 hooks

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1ta0NaacfY&feature=related

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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.com/watch?v=b_6iZX1j4oo

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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

- 7,503 fabric panels37 km of walkways600 workers employed for installing300 workers for the removal2,13 mt high above the ground3,64 mt interval between each one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7DLyUIsrc0

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Course of Site Specific Public Art

Lesson #2

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

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

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-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