Artist Christo walks on water with Floating Piers'
10 Jun 2016 11:53 AM IST10 Jun 2016 11:53 AM IST
The installation physically draws in visitors, demanding their participation to get the full experience.
It's taken nearly 2,000 years, but regular folks will soon get to feel what it is like to walk on water thanks to a project by the artist Christo, who may or may not have had his namesake in mind when envisioning his latest project: The Floating Piers.'- For the first time, for 16 days, from the 18th of June to July 3, they will walk on the water,' Christo said of the 2,000 residents of Monte Isolo, which is normally only accessible by boat.
- Since November, Christo and his team have been overseeing the assembly and anchoring of 220,000 floating poly-ethylene cubes to create a 3-kilometer (nearly 2-mile) undulating runway connecting the mainland with a pair of islands, one inhabited and towering above the lake.
- When his 80th birthday was bearing down on him and his Over the River' proposal to drape fabric over the Arkansas River in southern Colorado was still embroiled in court battles, Christo decided to make another run at The Floating Piers.'
- Christo's projects are as much feats of engineering as they are works of art.
- Once the installation opens on June 18, 150 volunteers, among them lifeguards, will be posted on the piers and on boats around the clock to ensure safety.
- The project still awaits a final touch: The application of deep yellow fabric that the artist promises will dramatically shift from nearly red to brilliant gold under the effects of light and humidity.
- The artist describes the sensation as walking on the back of a whale.'
- The Floating Piers' is expected to draw half a million visitors during the longest days of the year to northern Italy's least-known big lake.
It\'s taken nearly 2,000 years, but regular folks will soon get to feel what it is like to walk on water thanks to a project by the artist Christo, who may or may not have had his namesake in mind when envisioning his latest project: ‘The Floating Piers.’
The installation physically draws in visitors, demanding their participation to get the full experience.
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