Words Gabrielle de la Cruz
Images Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Reference Christo and Jeanne-Claude
It all started with a pile of industrial paper rolls and unassuming oil drums.
Six decades ago, the waterfront of the River Rhine in Cologne, Germany played host to the start of the creative journey of late installation artists Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (June 13, 1935 – May 31, 2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (June 13, 1935 – November 18, 2009). Stacked Oil Barrels and Dockside Packages, the couple’s first temporary outdoor environmental artworks, presaged the ephemeral wonders to come, all painstakingly plotted by these two brilliant minds. From their fabric-wrapped landmarks (“L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped” and “The Pont Neuf Wrapped”, both in Paris), mountain-straddling ‘curtains’ (“Valley Curtain,” in Colorado), to their plastic-encircled islands (“Surrounded Islands” in Florida), Christo and Jeanne-Claude challenged the traditional boundaries of what can be considered art with outsized works that offer a surreal, singular experience, leaving viewers in childlike awe and wonder.
“A work of art is a scream of freedom”
For Christo and Jeanne-Claude, creative freedom is non-negotiable; this is why their projects are completely self-funded and constructed so as to be executed true to the artistic vision. All their works come with an expiration date, most of them removed after 14 days of display, despite years of production and planning. These site-specific interventions momentarily alter their surrounding landscapes, suspending rhyme, reason, and logic for a world where every translation, meaning, or reading is valid. “Christo and Jeanne-Claude believed their work was ultimately about freedom. Nobody could own this work of art, not even them. Everyone could have their own meaning and every meaning was important and right,” Vladimir Yavachev offered journalists during the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe, which was completed back in 2021, nearly a year after Christo’s death from natural causes. Aside from freedom, beauty is another quality sought after by Christo and Jeanne Claude in all their works. “We only create joy and beauty. We have never done a sad work.”
Career capstone
There is something poignant about how the creative duo’s final project is inspired by ancient, bench-shaped tombs. Nearly 45 years in the making, The Mastaba was first conceived by Christo and Jeanne-Claude in 1977 for the sand dunes of the United Arab Emirates. It is arguably their most visually astounding work for its sheer size and ambition, measuring “150 meters (492 feet) high, 300 meters (984 feet) long at the vertical walls and 225 meters (738 feet) wide at 60-degree slanted walls.” Once realized, it will be “the largest contemporary sculpture (in volume) in the world.” The trapezoidal installation will be erected by layering 410,000 multi-colored steel barrels, with the entire substructure to be assembled flat on the ground. The formation of the barrels will exhibit a colorful mosaic that is intended to echo Islamic architecture, reminiscent of the artists’ faithfulness in creating interventions that set the artwork as a part of its landscape, not apart from it.
In the glaring absence of its creators and as per Christo’s wishes, work will be carried out by Vladimir Yavachev, the artist’s nephew who has worked with the artists for 30 years and most recently directed the well-received L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped.
The nitty-gritty
Structural feasibility studies were performed for The Mastaba in 2007 and 2008, with 4 separate engineering teams (ETH Zürich [Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich], University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the United States, Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, and Hosei University in Tokyo, Japan) working independently. The Christo and Jeanne-Claude foundation shared that “the artists then hired the German engineering firm, schlaich bergermann partner, in Stuttgart, to analyze these reports. The Hosei University concept was found to be the most technically sound and innovative.”
Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s team stated that the colors and the positioning of the 55-gallon steel barrels had already been selected by the artists when they first visited the United Arab Emirates in 1979. “Christo built a scale model in 1979, and the colors and positioning of the barrels will be exactly like in that scale model, without any changes. The precise orientation for The Mastaba was finalized in April 2012,” the artistic team furthered. The location of the project is proposed to be inland, “approximately 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the city of Abu Dhabi in the desert of Liwa.”
Journey to reality
“[Every project], because it takes years, you can see the early drawings and collages as just a simple, vague idea, and through the years and through the negotiations of getting the permit, you see that every detail is now clarified,” Christo once remarked. How each project is a unique image is demonstrated in the way it is meticulously planned, from its initial conception to its formative drawings, to actually bringing it to life. This same faithfulness is what will transpire with The Mastaba when it finally gets its long-gestating government approval.
What is likely keeping such a project, one that is sure to lend artistic gravitas to the locale and an almost guaranteed touristic pull, are the logistical and construction concerns of an undertaking that is not purely architectural or wholly art. Vital questions arise: What are the environmental impacts of indefinitely leaving 55-gallon steel barrels in a desert? How will the maintenance of an installation that will take ten elevation towers to raise work? How does one keep the Mastaba in place? What measures will be put in place to ensure the upkeep and threats to the safety of an artwork that will be permanently made available to the public? These are just some of the concerns that the team behind the structure will hopefully be able to address as the realization of this project progresses.
Christo commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers and Albright Stonebridge Group in 2012 to conduct analyses on the social and economic benefits of The Mastaba and studies on these continue to be carried out. Based on current estimates, the Christo and Jeanne-Claude team shared that “once government approval is granted, the construction period will take at least three years.” The team underscored that there is no other project in the making, that The Mastaba is anticipated to be as Christo called it — “like the new Eiffel Tower,” a “landmark for the 21st century.”
No precedents
While the completion of the Mastaba marks the end of one of the art world’s most eccentric expeditions, its envisioned permanence and bold presence suggest a symbol of defiant hope. From a distance, the vibrant orange color provides a striking contrast to what is seemingly an unforgiving locale, softening the structure’s gargantuan bulk and dismissing the aloof quality of its namesake tombs. Its creators may have passed but the Mastaba is no tomb for the dead; it can be read as a visual parable of the human experience on a planet of constant change, a multitude of beings struggling to form and hold on to structure at the mercy of the elements.
“When Christo passed away, there were two works in progress: L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped and The Mastaba. There is nothing else to be realized,” the Christo and Jeanne-Claude team responded with finality when we asked about what comes next after the Mastaba.
Just as how their projects marry art and architecture, the legendary duo, much like how they secured the giant wrappings they sheathed over landmarks, tied a figurative knot around this “alternative environment” they will leave behind, a ‘disturbance’ that finally stays put. There is sadness at the loss of its creator, but also anticipation for one last gift. We also wait with bated breath as to what the artist couple’s protégé, Vladimir Yavachev will be up to next after he has pulled off the final charge entrusted him.
And now we wait. •
