The Idea 60 Years In The Making

When talking about paintings, statues, most people would consider them as art. They get appreciated for their beauty and emotional power. But not all art has to be “art-like.” For example, this rather strange idea, 60 years in the making.

It starts in Paris, the capital of France. There you can see the Eiffel Tower, a considerably large tourist attraction. However, there is also another structure in this city, the Arc de Triomphe. It honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Standing 50 meters high and with a width of 45 meters, this monument lives up to its name, a giant arc with much sculpting in it.

But someone had big plans for the arc. Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude were known for large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often landmarks and landmark elements wrapped in fabric. And they planned for another project: To cover the Arc de Triomphe, at least temporarily. However, that proved not easy, maybe because the structure wasn’t their property. After Jeanne-Claude passed away in 2009, Christo continued on the project, making sketches of the arc in fabric. Though the project was still in its planning stages when the artist passed away last year, it still would get completed one day. Officially running from September 18th to October 3rd, this longtime dream would finally be a reality, even if it was 16 days.

The preparations for the installment took about three months. Now the monument is covered in more than 25,000 square meters of recyclable polypropylene fabric that is a silver-blue color. According to Editor Tigger, “it’s like someone spilled paint onto the arc, letting it flow down to the bottom.”

Christo and Jeanne-Claude also created other insanely large projects, like the Running Fence in California, literally a white fabric, steel pole fence spanning about 39 kilometers long and about 5 meters high. Then there is the Wrapped Reichstag, where an old German Parliament building in Berlin got wrapped in fabric. They spent 20 years petitioning for permission to create a worksite. In 1994 they received what they wanted, and construction began. After it got completed a year later, it captured global attention, becoming a symbol of united Germany.

So what do you think about L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped? Are it and other similar projects art? If not, what makes something art? Maybe the beauty of the structure, or is it the deep meaning lying somewhere beneath the surface? Do you have any ideas of what you think could be art? Well, that is for you to design, and plan, and make it into reality. That’s the end of this production from the New News Newsminute. Thank you, and tune in next time for more updates.