This fully illustrated catalogue is published by Taschen in collaboration with the Serpentine Galleries on the occasion of Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Barrels and The Mastaba 1958 – 2018, a major exhibition that coincides with the artists’ first outdoor sculpture in the UK, The Mastaba (Project for London, Hyde Park, Serpentine Lake). Towering at 20 metres high, it is the largest of Christo’s realised mastaba works to date, and will comprise 7,506 painted oil barrels in a floating mosaic of red, white, blue and mauve.
Through sculptures, drawings, collages, photographs and scale models the publication traces the sixty-year trajectory of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s use of barrels in their work, from their earliest public projects in Cologne Harbour and the Rue Visconti to their eventual use in the creation of monumental mastabas such as The Mastaba (Project for United Arab Emirates). Conceived by Christo and Jeanne-Claude in 1977, this yet-to-be-realised project represents a singular and steadfast vision of the artists’ most ambitious work to date. Made from 410,000 stacked barrels and standing 150 metres tall, The Mastaba would be the world’s largest sculpture, rising higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The book includes Christo’s earliest preparatory works through to his most recent drawings for his project in London, many of which are published here for the first time. These are presented alongside Wolfgang Volz’s photographs documenting the build of The London Mastaba and its installation in the Serpentine Lake. It also includes a conversation between Christo and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries, a new essay by architectural critic Paul Goldberger and texts by Adam Blackbourn.
Authors
Hans Ulrich Obrist
Paul Goldberger
Adam Blackbourn
Editor
Dr Simone Philippi
Photography
Wolfgang Volz
Designers
Lorenza Giovanelli
Christo
Erin Bazos
Dimensions
27 (h) x 29 (w) cm, hardback
ISBN
978-3-8365-7345-0
Publisher
Taschen
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