Walk on water with Christo’s new art project, ‘The Floating Piers’
Walk on water, just like Jesus. That’s what visitors at the Lake Iseo in northern Italy can do thanks to the latest project by artist Christo. With “The Floating Piers,” he fulfilled a lifelong dream.
“We’re doing great as long as the sun is shining,” says Wolfgang Volz, Christo’s photographer and project manager. He then suddenly stops the discussion because the sun is shining just right; he absolutely needs to take another picture of Lake Iseo.
Since 1972, Wolfgang Volz has been the exclusive photographer of the artists Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude, who died in 2009.
The couple had already developed the concept of “The Floating Piers” in the 70s. They had initially planned to set their installation on the Rio de la Plata in Argentina and in Tokyo Bay in Japan. However, they never obtained permission to carry out their project there.
‘The Floating Piers’ defy the weather
The dream could finally become reality on Lake Iseo, in northern Italy between Milan and Venice. The three-kilometer (1.8-mile) long art installation made of floating pontoons connects the islands of Monte Isola and San Paolo with the town of Sulzano.
“It’s a bit like being on a waterbed,” says Wolfgang Volz to describe the feeling of walking on the swinging webs.
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(Main photo: Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The Floating Piers, Lake Iseo, Italy, 2014-16. Photo: Wolfgang Volz © 2016 Christo)
