On January 22, 2003 Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City, announced that the city had given permission to New York artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude to realize their temporary work of art:The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979-2005.
The 7500 Gates, 16 feet (4.87 meters) high with a width varying from 5' 6" to 18 feet (1,67 m to 5,48 meters) would follow the edges of the walkways and would be perpendicular to the selected 23 miles of footpaths in Central Park. Free hanging saffron colored fabric panels suspended from the horizontal top part of the gates would come down to approximately 7 feet above the ground. The gates would be spaced at 12 foot intervals, except where low branches extended above the walkways allowing the synthetic woven panels to wave horizontally towards the next gate and be seen from far away through the leafless branches of the trees. The temporary work of art The Gates was scheduled for February 2005, to remain for 16 days, then removed and the materials recycled.
The Gates would be a golden ceiling creating warm shadows. When seen from the buildings surrounding Central Park, The Gates would seem like a golden river appearing and disappearing through the bare branches of the trees and would highlight the shape of the footpaths.
Paul (AHikingDude@aol.com) visited Central Park last weekend and took photographs of The Gates. Thank you, Paul.
