Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Projects Recorded, 1969–1998
February 9–23, 2005

Beginning with their 1967 proposal to cover a rocky segment of the Australian coast in fabric and rope, and continuing through the saffron-colored gates project on view this month in Central Park, the husband-and-wife team of Christo and Jeanne-Claude have created large-scale public artworks that transform natural and manmade landscapes. These monumental undertakings involve extensive coordination of contractors, lawyers, engineering teams, and scores of workers, yet are usually dismantled after only two or three weeks. Christo and Jeanne-Claude have enlisted filmmakers to document several of their most famous projects, from first sketches to realized object. The resulting collection of films offers a passionate testimony to the visual wonder of these otherwise ephemeral creations.

Organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, and Leigh Goldstein, Executive Assistant, Exhibitions, Department of Film and Media.

Dem Deutschen Volke (Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Wrapped Reichstag). 1996. Germany. Written and directed by Wolfram Hissen, Jörg Daniel Hissen. In 1995, Christo and Jeanne-Claude realized their decades-old dream of covering the Berlin Reichstag in fabric. Often described as the pair’s most ambitious project, the "wrapped" Reichstag is presented from every angle and in every light in this witty chronicle of a remarkable technical feat. In English and German, English subtitles. 98 min.
Wednesday, February 9, 7:30. T1

Christo’s Valley Curtain. 1974. USA. Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Giffard.Workers’ high-wire efforts to hang a giant sheet of fabric between two Colorado peaks are captured in this riveting account of an early project. 28 min.

Running Fence. 1978. USA. Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin. A chronicle of two artists working within a skeptical community to achieve their vision: a twenty-four-mile fabric fence in the California hills. 58 min.
Friday, February 11, 7:30. T2

Wrapped Coast. USA. 1969. Directed by Michael Blackwood. In the project that gained them international renown, Christo and Jeanne-Claude cover a mile-and-a-half of waterfront cliffs just outside of Sydney, Australia. 30 min.

Wrapped Walkways. 1978. USA. Directed by Michael Blackwood, Seith Schneidman. A Kansas community works with the renowned artists to install a fabric path equivalent to the yellow brick road. 24 min.

Wrapped Trees. 1998–99. France/Germany. Directed by Wolfram Hissen, Jörg Daniel Hissen. The artists provided 178 trees in Riehen, Switzerland, with a wintertime blanket. In German and English, English subtitles. 26 min. Program 80 min.
Thursday, February 17, 7:30. T2

Islands. 1986. USA. Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin. After a series of protracted negotiations, the artists were granted permission to line eleven Biscayne Bay islands in breathtakingly pink fabric. 57 min.

Christo in Paris. 1990. USA. Directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Deborah Dickman, Susan Froemke. Christo and Jeanne-Claude reminisce about the stirrings of their romance as they negotiate bureaucratic obstacles to their plans for wrapping the city’s oldest bridge, the Pont Neuf, in gold fabric. In English and French, English subtitles. 58 min.
Sunday, February 20, 5:00. T2

Umbrellas. 1995. USA. Directed by Henry Corra, Grahame Weinbren, Albert Maysles. Haunted by weather complications and accidental tragedy, Umbrellas remains the most problematic of the artists’ projects. Christo and Jeanne-Claude oversaw simultaneous installations of nineteen-foot-high monochrome umbrellas on both sides of the Pacific. For eighteen days, daubs of bright yellow dotted the southern California desertscape, while a concentration of watery blue umbrellas clustered in the lush valley of Ibaraki, Japan. 81 min.
Wednesday, February 23, 8:30. T2

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