A preview/review of The Gates by H-Ray Heine

Christo and Jeanne-Claude's new installation in New York's Central Park is scheduled to open on February 12, 2005, and the project promises a spectacular and thought-provoking site specific installation.

Typical of Christo's work, the process, from the planning and preparation of the work, to its temporary installation and subsequent removal, form a unified entity that still manages to defy established conventions about the nature of art.

The installation of 7,500 gates in New York's Central Park is no exception.

And, as many of the works of Christo, this installation -- even or perhaps especially since it does not yet exist -- is enigmatic and provocative.

From a distance, the rows of gates over the parks pathways appear to draw a network of orange lines across the park, echoing the barren branches of the leafless trees, with each gate leading to the next, without clear beginning or end or purpose.

Like an infinite string of dharma gates, the installation seems to offer only a hint at its possible meanings, no more than a vague allusion to the possibility of a meaningful choice between the infinite number of pathes that one may take to explore the installation.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude's artist statement emphasizes the aesthetic qualities of the installation, and -- somewhat unexpectedly, but perhaps not inappropriately -- sounds at times almost like an advertisement for a conceptual time share:

"For those who will walk through The Gates, following the walkways, and staying away from the grass, The Gates will be a golden ceiling creating warm shadows. When seen from the buildings surrounding Central Park, The Gates will seem like a golden river appearing and disappearing through the bare branches of the trees and will highlight the shape of the footpaths.

The 16 day duration work of art, free to all, will be a long-to-be-remembered joyous experience for every New Yorker, as a democratic expression that Olmsted invoked when he conceived a “central” park. The luminous moving fabric will underline the organic design of the park, while the rectangular poles will be a reminder fo the geometric grid pattern of the city blocks around the park. The Gates will harmonize with the beauty of Central Park."

Indeed, art and public space merge in this installation, but without the edge of Christo's earlier work, and the allusion to democracy seems more flattery for political marketing purposes than substance.

Open to all those who are fortunate enough to be able to visit New York this February, the installation runs the risk of resembling the iconography of a postmodern theme park, created for vacuous consumption and inconsequential chitchat, and lacking the sharp political and social implications that found expression in Running Fencein Sonoma, California, or in Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin, Germany. In contrast, the Gates seem to aim mostly at producing a pretty spectacle under the guise of art.

Still, like in many other works of Christo, the actual experience and witnessing of the work may lead to entirely unexpected results. The process of exploring the work, of taking a walk in the park, may itself be a transformative experience with the potential of altering traditional norms of understanding and experiencing a specific place, a site, a topos.

For 16 days this February, Christo's installation will offer a unique opportunity for such an exploration.

For more information about the Gates, please visit their official website at: