On January 22, 2003 Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City, announced that the city has given permission to New York artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude to realize their temporary work of art:The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979-2005.
The 7500 Gates, 16 feet (4.87 meters) high with a width varying from 5' 6" to 18 feet (1,67 m to 5,48 meters) will follow the edges of the walkways and will be perpendicular to the selected 23 miles of footpaths in Central Park. Free hanging saffron colored fabric panels suspended from the horizontal top part of the gates will come down to approximately 7 feet ( 2,13 meters) above the ground. The gates will be spaced at 12 foot (3,65 meter) intervals, except where low branches extend above the walkways allowing the synthetic woven panels to wave horizontally towards the next gate and be seen from far away through the leafless branches of the trees. The temporary work of art The Gates is scheduled for February 2005, to remain for 16 days, then the 7,500 Gates shall be removed and the materials will be recycled.
As Christo and Jeanne-Claude have always done for their previous projects, The Gates will be entirely financed by the artists through C.V.J. Corp, (Jeanne-Claude Javacheff, President) with the sale of studies, preparatory drawings and collages, scale models, earlier works of the fifties and sixties, and original lithographs on other subjects.
The artists do not accept sponsorship or donations.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude have donated the merchandising rights to the charitable foundation "NNYN" (Nurture New York's Nature and Arts) who are sharing these rights with The Central Park Conservancy.
Neither New York City nor the Park administration shall bear any of the expenses for The Gates.
The Gates will provide employment for hundreds of New York City residents:
* Manufacturing and assembling of the gates structures,
* Installation workers,
* Maintenance teams around the clock, in uniform and with radios,
* Removal workers.
The 5 inch (12,7 cm) square vertical and horizontal poles will be extruded in 65 miles (104,6 km) of recyclable saffron colored vinyl. The vertical poles will be secured by 15,000 narrow, steel base footings, 600 pounds (275 Kilograms) each, positioned on the paved surfaces. There will be no holes in the ground at all.
The off-site fabrication of the gates structures and assembly of the 7500 fabric panels made of 1,089,882 square feet (101,250 square meters) of fabric will be done in local workshops, and factories.
The on-site installation of the bases, by small teams, spread in the park, will neither disturb the maintenance and management of Central Park nor the every day use of the park by the people of New York.
In teams of eight, 600 workers wearing "The Gates" uniforms, will be responsible for installing 100 gates per team. All workers will be financially compensated and receive one hot meal per day. Professional security will work in the park after dark. The unfurling of the fabric panels will bloom in one day.
