On May 31st, 2020, the world of modern design began mourning for a modern artist that certainly left a remarkable path in this century. Christo, an artist that left us completely blown up by the years with his art installations, passed away of natural causes at his home in New York City. Let’s reminisce about one of his most iconic art installations!
The Pérez museummodern art exhibition tells the story of surrounded islands, installed in 1983 — 35 years ago — in Miami’s Biscayne bay through archival documentation, objects, drawings, models, and a film. For the striking pink installation that took place for just two weeks in may, Christo and Jeanne-Claude encircled 11 islands in the bay with 6.5 million square feet of pink fabric.
In December of 1980, Christo and Jeanne-Claude visited Miami for their first reconnaissance mission.
“Beth Dunlop, who wrote about architecture for the Miami herald, drove us around miami and miami beach, back and forth across the causeways, and that’s when Jeanne-Claude thought of surrounding the islands in Biscayne bay with fabric.”
Today, people can experience every detail of the contemporary design artwork through a show curated by Josy Kraft with the assistance of Lorenza Giovanelli and Jonathan Henery and coordinated at Pérez art museum Miami by PAMM’s curator rené morales.
It’s no secret that the modern art project was initially met with some concern from environmental and wildlife activists, residents, and other groups when it was first proposed in 1981-83. However, throughout the preparation, art installation, and removal of the project, Christo and Jeanne-Claude and their team worked closely with the US army corps of engineers and state and county regulators in order to ensure its safety to the environment and the local community.
