CO - Christo's controversial silvery fabric Over the River project gets first okay

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wfgodot

wfgodot

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Appeals board upholds permit for Christo project. (AP)
An appeals board is upholding the Bureau of Land Management's decision to grant the artist Christo a permit for his Over the River project, which involves temporarily suspending 5.9 miles worth of silvery fabric panels in sections over 42 miles of the Arkansas River.
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Meanwhile, two lawsuits challenging Over the River in state and federal courts are still pending.
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Even if Christo wins in the lawsuits, it would be at least 2016 before the project would be ready for public display.
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The project would be displayed for two weeks in the month of August, when the river would be calm enough for rafters to peer up at the fabric as they float underneath and when drivers on U.S. 50 along the river could look down.
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Opponents contend the project threatens bighorn sheep, public safety, traffic on U.S. 50, and businesses that depend on the scenic river to draw anglers, rafters and tourists.

Christo's team has said it plans dozens of measures to mitigate impacts.
Click to expand...
 
I am very confused. What is the point of fabric over the river and why in the world was it granted to begin with?
 
Christo's (and his late partner Jeanne-Claude's) works are (according to Wiki) "visually impressive and often controversial as a result of [their] scale; the artists have repeatedly denied that their projects contain any deeper meaning than their immediate aesthetic impact. The purpose of their art, they contend, is simply to create works of art or joy and beauty and to create new ways of seeing familiar landscapes."

Those works have included Wrapped Coast; Valley Curtain; The Umbrellas, Japan–USA, 1984–91; Pont Neuf; and Wrapped Reichstag.
 
I saw one of their smaller projects, Wrapped Walk Ways, in Kansas City in 1977, I think it was.
 
I looked at
Running Fence from the above link.

I guess this just isn't my kind of thing.

Though it probably looked pretty spectacular from say a plane. Or maybe a satellite
 
jjenny said:
I am very confused. What is the point of fabric over the river and why in the world was it granted to begin with?
Click to expand...

I don't understand how covering stuff with fabric is art. Not everyone with a paint brush can create art, but anyone with enough fabric can do what Cristo doe's. I don't get it.
 
I admit that I wasn't that into Christo even after seeing the KC project; it didn't move me. Then came "Umbrellas" - "one of the umbrellas in California was toppled by high winds, killing one woman and injuring several others" - and I was even less convinced, BUT then came "Wrapped Reichstag," a brilliant work, and I was forced to re-evaluate. I'd been wrong.

Better than I'd thought....
 
Nature is art. Besides, wouldn't suspending these panels above the water for two weeks cause the sunlight to be blocked to the water causing not only a shift in photosynthesis but also confusion to the wildlife. I don't see this as anything more than just more pollution that's harming our environment. Sorry :(
 
Art, as Shakespeare opined in 'Hamlet,' "holds the mirror up to natue." Christo's mirror is simply closer than most.
 
meh - doesn't impress me

art, like beauty, really is in the eye of the beholder
 
I saw the Umbrellas and it was neat- but not worth the cost. Not only was someone killed- IIRC there were complaints that even after the umbrellas were removed and the art was done that they had left materials (trash, concrete pieces, etc) up in that area.

Sometimes I think his stuff isn't so much about the fabric across the river, the umbrellas on the hills, etc.- but the controversy and fighting it takes to put everything up.
 
Pretty stupid. The money this costs could have a better use. What a waste.
 
deca said:
I saw the Umbrellas and it was neat- but not worth the cost. Not only was someone killed- IIRC there were complaints that even after the umbrellas were removed and the art was done that they had left materials (trash, concrete pieces, etc) up in that area.

Sometimes I think his stuff isn't so much about the fabric across the river, the umbrellas on the hills, etc.- but the controversy and fighting it takes to put everything up.
Click to expand...

I had to look that up. Yes, a woman was killed by this umbrella. Unbelievable. Why are authorities allowing this? He is promising to mitigate impacts with fabric over the river project. Yet how believable is it, considering his umbrella project killed a woman and injured other people?

"A 485-pound yellow umbrella, part of an international project of the environmental artist Christo, was toppled by winds on Saturday, killing a woman near here and injuring several other people, officials said."
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/28/us/christo-umbrella-crushes-woman.html
 
wfgodot said:
I admit that I wasn't that into Christo even after seeing the KC project; it didn't move me. Then came "Umbrellas" - "one of the umbrellas in California was toppled by high winds, killing one woman and injuring several others" - and I was even less convinced, BUT then came "Wrapped Reichstag," a brilliant work, and I was forced to re-evaluate. I'd been wrong.

Better than I'd thought....
Click to expand...

I'd never seen that until now. Gorgeous, especially at night. I remember seeing a documentary about "The Gates" in Central Park and I thought that was also an amazing piece of work.

http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/projects/the-gates#.UdD1qztO_Sg
 
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