Christo will present two works in progress: Over the River, Project for the Arkansas River, Colorado, which will suspend 5.9 miles of fabric panels over a forty-mile stretch of the Arkansas River in Colorado, and The Mastaba, Project for the United Arab Emirates, which will consist of 410,000 horizontally stacked, multicolored oil barrels, forming an oblong trapezoidal monument nearly 150 x 225 x 300 m.

For over fifty years, the artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s large-scale environmental works of art have juxtaposed the familiar and unfamiliar in rural and urban contexts, allowing viewers to experience landscapes, architecture, and objects with new eyes. The artists have realized numerous artworks, including Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Australia, 1969; Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado, 1970–72; Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, 1972–76; Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980–83; The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975–85; Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 1971–95; The Wall – 13,000 Oil Barrels, Gasometer, Oberhausen, Germany, 1999; and The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979–2005.

Christo was born in Bulgaria and studied at the Fine Arts Academy, Sofia. He met Jeanne-Claude in 1958 in Paris; the two began collaborating in 1961. The artists permanently took up residence in New York in 1964. Jeanne-Claude passed away in 2009.

Moderated by Wendy Evans Joseph. Joseph founded Wendy Evans Joseph Architecture in 1996 and serves on The Architectural League’s board of directors.

Support

This lecture is co-sponsored by The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union.

The League gratefully acknowledges Alan Wanzenberg for his support of this program.  This program was made possible in part by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.