Cahiers d'Art - Christo

Description

For this special issue of Cahiers d'Art, Christo has selected works that have never or only rarely been shown before, especially the enigmatic Show cases and Store Fronts, his works related to architecture and his very poetic Wrapped Trees. Christo also generously agreed to invite readers behind the scenes of his New York studio at 48 Howard Street. The revue presents poetic essays by Matthias Koddenberg, Ingrid D. Rowland, Lorenza Giovanelli and Bernard Blistene, as well as the last interview of the artist by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Staffan Ahrenberg, recorded on May 22nd, 2020, just nine days before Christo died. "Our works of art are not mere art products. They are journeys. That is what I love, what I am still enjoying." Christo

Christo is best known for monumental collaborations with his late partner Jeanne-Claude. The duo's projects, such as The Gates in Central Park and Wrapped Reichstag intervened in public spaces in order to draw attention to them. Since Jeanne-Claude's passing, Christo has worked to complete unrealised projects such as Over The River, a mile-long stretch of fabric that would function as a canopy over the Arkansas River. In gallery spaces, Christo presents schematic drawings of the duo's work, which exhibit the artist's technical mastery and undergird their massive installations, connecting the big ideas to their inception as free-floating thoughts. Lorenza Giovanelli studied art history at the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. In 2016, she worked as office coordinator and press office assistant during Christo's last major project The Floating Piers. In 2017, she joined Christo's team in New York. Ingrid Rowland is a professor at the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. She is a frequent contributor to The New Review of Books. Bernard Blistene is Director of the Musee national d'art moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris.