“Giant steps are what you take
Walking on the moon
I hope my legs don’t break
Walking on the moon
We could walk forever
Walking on the moon
We could live together
Walking on, walking on the moon”
Music group – The Police
Christo and his wife, the late, Jeanne-Claude have been creating new worlds on earth for almost 50 years. Perhaps you remember Surrounded Islands near Miami in the 80s that were surrounded in Flamingo pink material, or maybe when 24.5 mile long, 18 foot high Running Fence was constructed in wine country of California in the 70s, or maybe The Gates in NYC central Park where 7,503 saffron-colored gates were built.
Since his wife died, Christo hasn’t had a major work in over 10 years, but that changed this summer with his new work, The Floating Piers on Lake Iseo, Italy. A 3-kilometer-long walkway was created as The Floating Piers extend across the water of Lake Iseo connecting two islands with the city of Sulzano. The piers are 16 meters wide and approximately 35 centimeters high with sloping sides. The fabric continues along 2.5 kilometers of pedestrian streets in Sulzano and Peschiera Maraglio. Live streaming at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdBKNCPKBE8
“Those who experience The Floating Piers will feel like they are walking on water – or perhaps the back of a whale,” said Christo. “The light and water will transform the bright yellow fabric to shades of red and gold throughout the sixteen days.””
http://christojeanneclaude.net/projects/the-floating-piers#.V3V_Nbh97ic
How did Douglas and Lisa get here? Douglas came across an article in the NY Times about the exhibit opening and forwarded it to Lisa http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/arts/design/christos-newest-project-walking-on-water.html?_r=0 who wanted to go even more than Douglas, so they cut their gastronomical stay in Lyon, France to drive 6 hours to Solto Collina, Italy on the north shore of Lake Iseo. Later they drove to a nearby town, hopped on a packed train, arrived in Sulzono and joined several thousand people ( like 20k ) in line for about two and a half hours to finally get to step upon the whale’s back, or walk on water.
We were expecting a more ‘artsy’ young hipster crowd. What was surprising was the variety of people, lots of locals and Italians from other areas, people in wheel-chairs, grandparents with their grandchildren, young and old people. Christo said “There are no tickets, no openings, no reservations and no owners. The Floating Piers are an extension of the street and belong to everyone.”
Walking on the piers lets you really calm down. The piers float on the water and you can feel the movement under your feet. It was a once in a life time experience.
Some Facts:
- 100,000 square meters of shimmering yellow fabric are produced, Greven, Germany
- At a factory in Fondotoce at Lago Magiore, 220,000 high-density polyethylene cubes are manufactured over a period of eight months
- At the headquarters in Montecolino, construction workers assemble the piers, which are produced in 100-meter-long segments
- Commercial divers from France are hired to install the underwater anchors at depths up to 90 meters
- Rope made of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), covered with a polyester protective layer with a breaking load of 20 metric tons are used
- Only available for 16 days from June 18 through July 3, 2016 (6am to midnight)
- Cost: 16.8 million dollars- all self funded by the artist
- More FAQs here: http://www.thefloatingpiers.com/faq/
- Interesting videos here: http://www.thefloatingpiers.com/press/
Christos Piers – fascinating – and you were there at the right time!
Lake Iseo – really beautiful!