A work in Progress
Photgraphs by Wolfgang Volz

Exhibition curated by Josy Kraft

18 October - 17 December 2005


Fabric panels suspended horizontally clear of and high above the water level will follow the configuration and width of the changing course of the river, during a period of two consecutive weeks to be selected between mid-July and mid-August of any given year in the future, in 2008 at the earliest.

Steel wire cables, anchored on the upper part of the riverbanks, will cross the river and serve as attachment for the fabric panels. The woven fabric panels, sewn in advance, with rows of grommets at
the edges perpendicular to the river, will create shimmering waves of fabric, 8 to 23 feet (2,4 to 7 meters) above the river bed. The 7 mile (11.3 kilometer) long stream of successive panels will be interrupted by bridges, rocks, trees, and bushes and for esthetic reasons, creating abundant flows of light.

Wide clearance between the banks and the edges of the fabric panels will create a play of contrast allowing sunlight to illuminate the river on both sides. When seen from underneath, standing on the
rocks, at the edge of the river, at water level or by rafting, the luminous and translucent fabric will highlight the contours of the clouds, the mountains and the vegetation.

As with all previous art projects, OVER THE RIVER is entirely financed by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, through the sale by C.V.J. Corporation (Jeanne-Claude Christo-Javacheff, President) of Christo’s preparatory drawings, lithographs, collages, scale models and early works from the fifties and sixties.

The artists do not accept sponsorship of any kind.

As it was done for past projects, most of the materials will be recycled.

In the USA, most of the rivers are born in the Rocky Mountains, some flowing east to the Mississippi River or the Gulf of Mexico, some flowing west to the Pacific Ocean. For the project, a river had to be chosen. The river should have high banks so that steel cables could be suspended, a road running continuously along the river, as well as both white and tranquil waters used for rafting.

In August 1992, ‘93 and ‘94, Christo and Jeanne-Claude traveled 22,530 kilometers (14,000 miles) in the Rocky Mountains in the United States, in search of a site for the project with their collaborator-friends: Tom Golden, Richard Miller, Vince Davenport, Jonita Davenport, Simon Chaput, Anna-Maryke Havekes, Wolfgang and Sylvia Volz, Masa Yanagi, Harrison Rivera-Terreaux, Vladimir Yavachev and John Kaldor.

On those trips, the team prospected eighty-nine rivers in the Rocky Mountains, in seven states, and six possible locations were found. After visiting the six sites again in the summer of 1996, the Arkansas River in Colorado was selected. Vince and Jonita Davenport with Wolfgang Volz organized life-size prototype tests for Christo , Jeanne-Claude and their collaborators, Jonathan Henery, Vladimir Yavachev and Nicholas Domeyko in June and September 1997, June 1998 and June 1999.
Tests have been conducted by Scott L. Gamble and Mark A. Hunter of R.W.D.I. Inc., Consulting Engineers, in a wind tunnel in Guelph, Ontario, Canada and at the site of the 1999 life-size test in Colorado, organized by Over The River chief engineer/director of construction Vince Davenport and project director Jonita Davenport.

C. V. J. Corporation has retained the services of: Loren R. Hettinger and Teresa O’Neil of J. F. Sato and Associates, Consulting Engineers, Littleton, Colorado, to prepare the Environmental Assessment;
Francis E. Harrison, Andrew M. Dodds, Gary S. Lewan and Claire H. Dunning, of Golder Associates Inc., Lakewood, Colorado to prepare the design engineering; Bryan Law and Richard Mariotti, of Law and Mariotti Consultants Inc., Colorado Springs, to prepare the topographic maps; David Ness and Donald Cleveland, of M. J. Harden Inc., Kansas City, to prepare the aerial photographic maps.

The road running along the river, and the existing footpaths leading to the water will allow the project to be seen, approached and enjoyed from above by car or bus, and from underneath on foot or by raft or kayak. For a period of two weeks, the temporary work of art OVER THE RIVER will join the other recreational activities and the natural life of the river.