Slide Lecture-A Work in Progress, Over the River,Project for Arkansas River,State of Colorado.

October 29, 2006 (Sunday),
at Port Hole (Hokusho University Maruyama Campus) / MIYANOMORI ART MUSEUM, SAPPORO

Curtains stretched across valleys, 40 km-long temporary fences, pink fabrics surrounding islands in the sea, swarms of umbrellas eight meters in diameter, packed historical buildings…

Known for their grand outdoor projects using fabric, this exhibition provides and overview of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s works, from their earliest works to their ongoing projects. As a correlating event, the artists themselves held a slide screening and lecture, visiting Japan for the first time in 7 years.

Known as collaborative artists, the two have been important partners in their personal lives for many years. During their visit to Japan, they showed their friendship and mutual concern for each other throughout their stay, and in their lectures, they introduced their grand project as “Like a Baby,” giving the impression that the long and difficult road to completion of the project was entirely their own world.

During the slide presentation in the first half of the lecture, Christo mainly discussed their major past projects and the ongoing project “Over the River”. During the question and answer session in the second half, it was striking to see Jeanne-Claude speak powerfully, at times inciting the audience, in contrast to the relatively taciturn Christo.

Despite their busy schedule, which took them to Kyoto in the morning and a lecture venue in Sapporo in the afternoon, Christo and Jeanne-Claude remained standing and answered questions from the audience for about an hour and a half, answering each question sincerely. Jeanne-Claude declared, “There is no logic to our work; we simply create what we think is beautiful with our own freedom,” and the audience erupted in applause.