Christo

(Bulgaria, United States of America 13 Jun 1935– )

Jeanne-Claude

(France, United States of America 13 Jun 1935–18 Nov 2009)

Title

Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia

Other titles:

Wrapped Coast, Little Bay, Australia

Year

1969

Media category

Photograph

Materials used

gelatin silver photograph

Edition

18/30

Dimensions

62.3 x 77.5 x 3.4cm frame

Signature & date

Signed l.r., black marker "Christo...". Not dated.

Credit

Gift of Chandler Coventry 1972

Accession number

13.1972

Copyright

Location

Not on display

Further information

Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia 1968-69
Coordinator: John Kaldor

Little Bay, property of Prince Henry Hospital, is located 14.5 kilometres, southeast of the centre of Sydney.

The South Pacific Ocean cliff-lined shore area that was wrapped is approximately 2.5 kilometres long, 46 to 244 metres wide, 26 metres high at the northern cliffs, and was at sea level at the southern sandy beach.

90,000 square metres (1 million square feet) of erosion-control fabric (synthetic woven fibre usually manufactured for agricultural purposes) were used for the wrapping. 56.3 kilometres of polypropylene rope, 1.5 centimetre diameter, tied the fabric to the rocks. Ramset guns fired 25,000 charges of fasteners, threaded studs and clips to secure the rope to the rocks.

Ninian Melville, a retired major in the Army Corps of Engineers, was in charge of the workers at the site.

17,000 manpower hours, over a period of four weeks, were expended by 15 professional mountain climbers, and over 100 workers: architecture and art students from the University of Sydney and East Sydney Technical College, as well as a number of Australian artists and teachers. All workers were paid, with the exception of 11 architecture students who refused.

The project was financed by Christo and Jeanne-Claude through the sale of Christo's original preparatory drawings, collages, scale models, early packages and wrapped objects of the 1950s and 1960s and lithographs.

The coast remained wrapped for a period of ten weeks from 28 October 1969. Then all materials were removed and recycled and the site was returned to its original condition.

Bibliography (5)

Sophie Forbat (Australia) (Editor), 40 years: Kaldor Public Art Projects, Sydney, 2009, 56-57 (illus.). This work is illustrated in the catalogue but was not in the exhibition.

'Christo and Jeanne-Claude' by Jill Sykes, pg.24-27, Look Dec 2007-Jan 2008, Dec 2007-Jan 2008, 24 (illus.).

Anthony Bond (England; Australia) (Commissioning Editor), Wayne Tunnicliffe (New Zealand; Australia) (Commissioning Editor), Contemporary: Art Gallery of New South Wales Contemporary Collection, 2006, 62, 70 (illus.).

Charles Green (Australia, b.1953) (Author), The third hand: collaboration in art from conceptualism to postmodernism, Minneapolis, 2001, 124 (illus.), 127, 128, 130, 131, 135, 142, 154, 182.

Nicholas Baume (Australia) (Editor), Christo. John Kaldor Art Project, 1990, Sydney, 1990, 120-121 (illus). This work is illustrated in the catalogue but was not in the exhibition.

Exhibition history (2)

Ideas and Actions: Performance, Process and Documentation, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 29 Oct 1999–23 Jan 2000.

John Kaldor Family Collection Artist Rooms #1 - Christo, Gosford Regional Gallery & Arts Centre, 01 Feb 2013–01 Apr 2013.