Picture This: Duct Tape and the Running Fence

Christo speaking with museum staff

Christo speaking with curator George Gurney and exhibition designer David Gleeson. Photo by Jerry Hovanec

SAAM Staff
Blog Editor
March 30, 2010

Running Fence, the monumental temporary artwork by Christo and Jeanne-Claude existed for only two weeks in September of 1976. It was made of 240,000 square yards of heavy woven white nylon fabric, 90 miles of steel cable, 2,050 steel poles, 350,000 hooks, and 13,000 earth anchors. In 2008 American Art acquired the definitive record of this artwork and our exhibition, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence opens this Friday.

The installation is in its final stages and Christo stopped by a few days ago to supervise. He's describing the duct tape they had to use to keep the hooks attached to the bottom cable from coming loose. When the wind died down the hooks attached to the bottom cable tended to come loose. So the crew unexpectedly had to scour the county to find enough duct tape for the project.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Remembering the Running Fence opens April 2 and runs through September 26.

 

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