‘Changed my life’: 50 years on since Little Bay wrapped in fabric
It maybe the most ambitious art project the eastern suburbs has ever witnessed — wrapping an entire coastline in a million square feet of fabric. In October, it will mark 50 years since famous artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude visited Sydney and completed their art work Wrapped Coast.
It maybe the most ambitious art project the eastern suburbs has ever witnessed — wrapping an entire coastline in a million square feet of fabric.
In October, it will mark 50 years since famous artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude visited Sydney and completed their art work Wrapped Coast at Little Bay.
The project saw a huge team of rock climbers, workers and studentscover the coastline in fabric, transforming it into something resembling a large ice field.
Renowned Sydney art patron and collector John Kaldor, now in his 80s, who co-ordinated the project, said looking back the project changed his life.
“The dedication and the single mindedness of both Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude was a great example of how to do things, not only in art but anything else in life.”
He said he could not forget the day a storm came through and ripped apart huge sections of the project while they were still installing the art work.
“I wish I could forget it. It was terrible because in our enthusiasm and in a hurry we lay down the fabric and only secured it when big chunks were laid down,” he said.
“We were devastated because we only had little money. But Christo and Jeanne-Claude were so charismatic and said that if we work with nature this is what we have to expect and let’s get on with it.”
He said they rallied everyone around them and managed to complete the ambitious project, drawing incredible responses from the public.
“I could sum up the response in one word: amazement; it completely transformed the landscape. It looked like an enormous ice field.”
He said working on the project also made a big impact on his career.
“It changed my life. I was employed at the time and I thought if I can organise a coastline to be wrapped with fabric I could probably run my own business, and that gave me the courage I needed.”
He explained the project came about after he saw an artwork of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s, and invited the couple to Sydney upon meeting them in New York on a business trip.
He said they declined his invitation to travel to Sydney and give a lecture and hold an exhibition, but said they would come if he could find them a coastline to wrap in fabric.
From there, he received knock back after knock back as he tried to gain permission to borrow a coastline for a couple of months.
“I would walk into these offices and I would say I want to use some of your coastline to wrap in fabric. And they would say what for? And I would say for a sculpture … they thought I was totally out of my mind.”
He said eventually Prince Henry Hospital at Little Bay gave him permission if they could charge a small fee for people to see the installation and if the artists covered the cost of insurance, stating it may bring the staff and patients some enjoyment.
Kaldor recalled, at the time, Little Bay was next to a rubbish tip and was nothing like it is now.
Randwick Council is organising an exhibition commemorating Wrapped Coast to be shown at Lionel Bowen Library in Maroubra from September 1 to December 15.
Kaldor will also be giving a talk about the project at Prince Henry Centre in Little Bay on Friday, September 13.
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