Recently in The Gates Category
Today I am no longer an employee of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Construction of The Gates is complete. Yesterday morning my team unfurled the fabric on the gates we constructed. We each took turns going down the line as a cheering throng surrounded us.
Our proximity to Columbus Circle explained the crowd, but it felt as if they were there for us.
My eight member team erected our last gate at 3:03pm today. Sadly, the last gate was on a funny angle and had to be taken down and put up another three times.
Erecting these gates has been an incredible experience and today was an amazing end to the construction portion of the project.
My team caught up today. In the morning we completed 15 gates and in the afternoon we erected 21. We are done with the rough terrain and now will finish up tomorrow on smooth straight sidewalk.
There were tensions as the day went on but overall the mood was energetic and productive.
This project is going to be amazing when it is done.
For two days now I have worked as part of an eight member team erecting gates for Christo and Jeanne-Claude in Central Park. Each gate weighs about one hundred and fifty pounds and takes about ten minutes to erect once the materials are in place.
When I arrived at the Command Center on Monday morning I learned that I would act as crew captain for my group of eighteen. I was assigned a map of area in the southwest corner of the Park near Columbus Circle.
For the last 26 years the husband and wife team Christo and Jeanne-Claude have lobbied to erect public art in Central Park. The French couple has lived in New York for forty years and has not had any art projects in their adopted home. Until now.
On February 12 one of the largest art projects New York City has ever seen will be unveiled. The Gates stretches the length of almost every sidewalk that winds through the park. Every meter or so a large orange gate will be erected and flaps of cloth will hang down, just above the heads of passersby, and blow in the wind. Like most of their art, The Gates exists in time: It will only be installed for a few weeks.
Who is this guy?
