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March 30, 2005
A Gated Community
After hearing about the Gates by Christo and Jeanne Claude last spring from my visiting Auntie from Kansas, I eagerly anticipated this mammoth project coming to fruition in Central Park this February 2005. Finally after 21 million dollars of fundraising by selling drawings,February arrives and Central Park is decked out with 7500 environmentally unobtusive gates of tangerine drapery. All in all, I think this project was an unequivocal success. The project made millions for the Central Park Conservancy and for New York tourism though many New Yorkers scratched their head in wonder at the ado of it all. Some were offended that The Gates would mar Central Park's natural beauty for even those few weeks. I thought it was beautiful.
Part of The Gates' allure was in it's enormity. Big numbers both in dollars and in gates; in cloth needed and in manpower to manage it. I know how difficult it is to produce a $20K project with 15-20 people involved. To manage fundraising, staffing, manufacturing and planning for this mammoth feat was a work of art in itself. I also appreciated the passion of the artists'. They raised all of the money and paid for everything themselves. The project was 100% safe for the park; once The Gates are gone there will be no scars from the event. This project was something that couldn't be done until it was done; proof that you could tilt at windmills and win. Decades in the making, no's at every turn, and still these Gates managed to see the light of a Central Park day.
Aside from the enormity of it all, I found the art itself fascinating and almost magical. These orange-colored curtains seemed to make Central Park an other-worldly place. Medieval and magic winding around a park in a city as if hinting at unseen doors and forgotten portals. It was as if we were granted a glimpse of the other side of the wardrobe, straight through to Aslan's Narnia. I was fascinated by the play of nature the Gates managed to highlight. Wind, trees, sunlight; they all seemed more vivid against an orange-gated background. I could see the play of the elements as if they were soulful beings telling me a secret that was mine alone. Then, as if I'd seen it all, there was snow and a whole new world to explore and listen to. Now that I've seen the park this way, I wonder if I've been given the secret pass. I hope that I will still find these secrets parts of wind, and light and tree in The Park even when The Gates are long since a memory. One thing I know, I'll definitely be listening.
To see some of my adventures at The Gates, check out my Gates Album.
Posted by mermu at March 30, 2005 02:52 PM
Comments
What a beautiful description! Wish I could have been there to experience it myself but as a second best I'm glad to experience it through your personal photos.
Posted by: Cynthia at April 1, 2005 05:54 AM
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