The Floating Piers Artwork Installation

Forty-six years, 100,000 square metres of bright, saffron fabric and $17 million went into planning and constructing the visionary artist's, Christo's, latest work. The Floating Piers is a two-mile waterborne walkway stretching across Northern Italy’s Lake Iseo connecting to the island of San Paolo, the islet of Peschiera Maraglio, and the town of Sulzano. 

 

The artwork took 22 months to construct with teams of engineers, divers and athletes involved, and over 40,000 visitors are expected to walk The Floating Piers over the next 16 days. Despite looking unsteady, the installation is safe to walk upon with 220,000 separate polyethylene cubes acting as buoys keeping the piers afloat. The artwork also mimics the movements of the ocean by bobbing and swaying with the waves, and the fabric changes colour depending on weather conditions, temperature, and moisture. Christo has described the sensation as 'walking on the back of a whale.'

 

The Floating Piers is his first major public artwork installation since 2005 and is free for public access until July 3rd when it will be removed. In an interview with The New York Times, Christo commented ‘the important part of this project is the temporary part, the nomadic quality. The work needs to be gone because I do not own the work, no one does. This is why it is free.’ 

 

We for one cannot help but imagine how amazing an SS17 runway show would be here!