Wrapped Coast  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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At the end of 1969 Jeanne-Claude and Christo wrapped the coast of Little Bay in Sydney, Australia on invitation by Australian Collector John Kaldor, and as part of the Alcorso-Sekers Travelling Scholarship. With the support of John Kaldor, this became the first visit to Australia for international artists to make new work and the first in the series of Kaldor Public Art Projects.

100 workers and 11 volunteers devoted 17,000 work hours to the project. Christo wrapped Two-and-a-half kilometres of coast and Cliffs up to 26 metres high. The project required 95,600 m² of synthetic fabric and 56 km of rope and was the largest single artwork ever made at this time. The artwork was larger than Mount Rushmore, and visitors took an hour to walk from one end of the work to the other. After initial resistance from the authorities and the public, reactions were largely positive, and had an enormous impact on art in Australia.