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| Photo: Wolfgang Volz. © Christo 2007 |
Now is the time to rejoice. The time to be elated. The time to look forward to having your communities on an international stage. A time to feel honored that a great living artist selected your homeland to be the site of a large-scale environmental art project that will attract worldwide attention and garner big tourism dollars. You should be delighted that Christo and his late wife Jeanne-Claude (who died in November 2009) spent 18 years fighting bureaucracy to bring your communities Over the River, a massive public art work that will feature 5.9 miles of silvery, luminous fabric panels suspended high above the Arkansas River along a 40-mile stretch between Salida and Cañon City in south-central Colorado . The art will stay erected for two weeks in the Summer of 2013, pending approval from the Federal Government.
As of right now, Christo does not have permits to begin installation and without approval from the Federal Government the project could be stymied permanently. If you live in Colorado, now is the time to speak in favor of this project that will have your state chronicled in art history books and recognized worldwide as the location for the incomparable Christo’s final large-scale art work. This is a crucial time for the project. The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) draft is now complete and available for public review and comment; the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will accept public comments until Tuesday, September 14.
Supporters must offset the negative and wrongheaded criticism that the opposition group, Rags over the Arkansas River (ROAR), espouses. The concerns generated from this group, which focus largely on traffic and environmental issues, have been addressed by Christo’s team with the project plan being rewritten multiple times to minimize short-term inconvenience and to mitigate lasting adverse effects on the Colorado communities. When examining the nature of the project, many positive aspects exist that supersede any type of temporary nuisance.
- During the fabric panel installation phase and exhibition period, Christo will hire between 300 and 400 workers, with preference given to local residents, according to the official Over the River website.
- It is estimated that Over the River could attract over 300,000 to Colorado, according to the BLM.
- The BLM projections indicate that the public art work could create $121 million in revenue for the state.
- As the location for Over the River, Colorado becomes of a significant part of art history. Since Christo will be 78 years-old when the project is installed, it is assumed that this will be Christo’s last large-scale art work. This is a project that will be sited repeatedly in art history books with Salida and Cañon City frequently mentioned internationally for many years.
- Colorado taxpayers will not have to chip in a dime for this $54 million project. Over the River is being funded entirely by Christo and his private donors, so all of the economic benefits will occur without public subsidy or taxpayer support. This includes expenses to the community during the two-week exhibition period, such as additional law enforcement or trash collection, according to the project website. The Centennial State will experience financial gain with no financial pain.
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| Photo: Wolfgang Volz. © Christo 2007 |
But in addition to financial benefits and international recognition, this is Colorado’s opportunity to be part of Christo’s creative process. Christo’s art amounts to more than just the end product; it consists of more than the fabric, metal, anchors, bolts, cables, and pulleys. Bureaucracy, public opinion, and controversy are all part of the process. The “getting to the completed art work” is as significant as the “completed work,” which means every person who reads about the project, forms an opinion and offers a formal public comment is part of the process. People and process are synonymous. People question Christo’s process and purpose: Christo’s process and purpose spark the questioning. The artists’ methods and outcomes make people ask: Is this art? Is it worth twenty years of hassle to have something that lasts two weeks? Are the risks to the environment too great? Who benefits from these temporary works of art? What is the meaning behind the couple’s art?
Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s works are largely spectacle and flamboyancy, and the artists have consistently claimed that their works have no deeper meaning other than the immediate aesthetic impact from re-figuring and briefly transforming an everyday landscape. Arguments have been made that the pristine and stunning Rocky Mountain terrain and roaring Arkansas River need no enhancement and should not be transfigured even momentarily. Although the landscape stands alone on its magnificence and splendor, the Over the River project allows for the comingling of nature and art; the merging of natural beauty and formulated allure. For a short moment, we can ponder the exquisiteness of the natural world in relation to synthetic constructs. Two weeks later, the moment will pass; the overlaying artifice will be removed and the environment will return to its previous state – only the pictures and memories of the transitory piece will remain.
As a Colorado resident, I hope that I will have the opportunity to share in that fleeting moment. If the project is approved, my husband and I will travel with our four kids over 200 miles and approximately four hours to see the results of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s vision. We will travel to Salida where will we dine, shop and lodge. We will become part of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s process. We will become part of the moment called Over the River. We will take the fleeting moment with us as we make the four hour return trip to Northern Colorado. If you too would like to be part of a ephemeral but important artistic moment, I recommend that you learn more about Christo and Jeanne-Claude; examine the Environmental Impact Statement; and, let the Bureau of Land Management know that you support this novel and significant public art work. You can discover more about Over the River and offer public comment at the following website:
http://www.overtheriverinfo.com/. Sincerely,
Garbageman’s DaughterArt Enthusiast and Resident of Northern Colorado
