- Title: Wrapping of Arc de Triomphe begins in Paris art installation
- Date: 12th September 2021
- Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 12, 2021) (REUTERS) PEOPLE LOOKING AT PARTIALLY WRAPPED ARC DE TRIOMPHE AS PART OF TEMPORARY ART PERFORMANCE ENVISIONED BY NOW DECEASED ARTIST CHRISTO STATUE WITH FABRIC WRAPPED UPPER PART OF ARC PARTIALLY WRAPPED ARC DE TRIOMPHE WORKERS WRAPPING ARC UP / ARC WHILE BEING WRAPPED VARIOUS OF WORKERS LAYING FABRIC OVER ARC VARIOUS OF YOUNG MAN LOOKING AT ARC AND TAKING PICTURES VARIOUS OF CHRISTO'S NEPHEW, VLADIMIR YAVATCHEV, TALKING WITH PEOPLE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHRISTO'S NEPHEW, VLADIMIR YAVATCHEV, SAYING: "The biggest challenge for me is that Christo is not here. I miss his enthusiasm, his criticisms, his energy and all of these things. And that, for me, really is the biggest challenge." WORKERS WRAPPING ARC UP FABRICS HANGING FROM ARC UPPER PART OF ARC WITH FABRIC HANGING DOWN WORKER RAPPELLING DOWN ROPE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHRISTO'S NEPHEW, VLADIMIR YAVATCHEV, SAYING: "Christo always said: 'We inherit everything that is inherent to the site.' And here, they have tickets for the roof and people celebrate, and people protest, and people cry because of the unknown soldier. There are many things that this 'batiment' -- building in French -- carries and we are very grateful to everybody involved." VARIOUS OF WORKERS LOWERING ROLLED UP FABRIC ACCELERATED SHOT OF FABRIC BEING LOWERED (MUTE) VARIOUS OF WORKER LOOKING ON PARTIALLY WRAPPED ARC DE TRIOMPHE VARIOUS OF WORKERS LOWERING ROLLED UP FABRIC PEOPLE LOOKING ON AND TAKING SELFIES MAN TAKING PICTURE / PARTIALLY WRAPPED ARC DE TRIOMPHE (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMERICAN FROM CHICAGO WHO HAS LIVED IN PARIS FOR DECADES, MARLEY DOLITSKY, SAYING: "I'm absolutely excited about it. I came very very early, I listened to some of the interviews. I kind of expected everybody coming down within two minutes and now it's a few hours but other than that, I find it exciting and the weather is wonderful, so why not?" WRAPPED UP ARCH SIGN READING (French): "Charles de Gaulle square" (SOUNDBITE) (French) 61-YEAR-OLD PUBLIC SERVANT WHO LIVES NEAR PARIS, ERIC DELAPORTE, SAYING: "I had been waiting for this for a long time because I knew that Christo had wanted, ever since he was young, to wrap up the Arc de Triomphe, and I really wanted to be here." VARIOUS OF WORKERS LAYING DOWN FABRIC WORKER SUPERVISING WRAPPING FABRIC BEING UNROLLED WORKER RAPPELLING DOWN ROPE ARC DE TRIOMPHE WITH SIDE WITH RELIEF STATUES NOT YET WRAPPED PEOPLE LOOKING AT ARC
- Embargoed: 26th September 2021 15:31
- Keywords: Arc de Triomphe Christo contemporary art wrapping
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE
- City: PARIS, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Art,Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe
- Reuters ID: LVA001EUEY9UH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CAN BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH EDIT 5050-FRANCE-ART/ARC DE TRIOMPHE WHICH CONTAINS FOOTAGE OF ARC DE TRIOMPHE BEING PREPARED FOR WRAPPING AND FILE OF CHRISTO AND HIS PREVIOUS STUNTS
Visitors to Paris were surprised on Sunday (September 12) when strolling up the Champs-Elysees as dozens of workers began enveloping the Arc de Triomphe in a shimmering tarpaulin fabric - a posthumous installation by artist Christo.
Workers were shuffling around the 50-metre high, 19th century arch setting up 25,000 square metres of silvery blue, recyclable plastic wrapping, which will be on view between Sept. 18 and Oct. 3.
Imagined decades ago in 1961 by the late Bulgarian-born artist Christo and his wife and fellow artist Jeanne-Claude, who died in 2009, "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped" was finally brought to life by Christo's nephew, Vladimir Yavatchev at a cost of about 14 million euros ($16.54 million).
"The biggest challenge for me is that Christo is not here. I miss his enthusiasm, his criticisms, his energy and all of these things. That, for me, really is the biggest challenge," Yavatchev told Reuters.
Christo, who spent part of his life in Paris and in New York, once rented a small room near the famed Champs-Elysees avenue after moving to Paris in 1958, when he experimented with wrapping discarded crates and barrels with fabric and rope, according to an official site about the artist.
Christo, whose full name is Christo Javacheff, was known for his larger-than-life installations.
He wrapped up a stretch of coastline in Australia and the Reichstag parliament building in Berlin, and strung up a huge curtain in part of a canyon in Colorado. He worked closely with Jeanne-Claude on the projects.
The pair covered Paris's Ponf Neuf bridge in yellow cloth in 1985.
"I came very very early...I kind of expected everybody coming down within two minutes and now it's a few hours but other than that, I find it exciting," Marley Dolitzky from Chicago said.
The Arc de Triomphe project, set in one of Paris's most visited monuments, that looms over one end of the Champs-Elysees, will still allow tourists to enter the site and its panoramic terrace.
The monument is also home to a tribute to the Unknown Soldier, in the form of a flame of remembrance that is rekindled everyday.
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