Generally speaking, until now, New Yorkers have made do with only 20 Gates in Central Park, though they may not always have been aware of them. Since the late 19 th Century, the park’s entrances have borne names like Mariner’s Gate (85 th & CPW), Merchant’s Gate (59 th & CPW) and Scholar’s Gate ( Grand Army Plaza). For sixteen days in February, the number of Gates in Central Park grew by, oh…seventy-five hundred.

A massive public art installation twenty-six years in the planning, the Gates are the brainchild of conceptual art super-duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The Gates project is only the latest in a lifelong series of ephemeral happenings which defy description: Installation? Landscape Art? Pranksterism? Whatever the case, they are works unlike any other. Their projects do seem to beg statistics, so here goes: 7500 gates; 5,290 tons of US Steel for the feet of the gates; 1,067,330 square feet of nylon fabric; 23 miles of gated Central Park real estate; approximately 600 workers; and a total estimated cost of $21 million dollars. But all those figures don’t go very far in helping to understand how exactly Christo and Jeanne-Claude pulled it off. And they don’t do much to describe the transporting, ethereal effect of the sun shining brilliantly through standing rows of orange- (ok, saffron-) colored curtains fluttering in the wind. The Gates is a dazzling gesture, all the more so for its brief life-span, and its own, sheer, self-admitted, meaninglessness.

The project was first conceived by the art-world couple 26 years ago, hence the works full title, The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979-2005. It is a follow-up of sorts to their wrapping of Berlin’s Reichstag, a project which, itself, took twenty-four years to achieve. Like many of their larger, more public works, a lot of political wrangling is often the order of the day, and in a very real sense, that is where the artistry begins. The scale of their projects may be staggering, but their costs are often more so, and even more unusually, the projects are entirely subsidized by the two artists themselves. No, this is not “The Gates” brought to you by Home Depot. Every project is preceded by sketches and plans, and the eventual sale of these preparatory works, to private collectors, museums and galleries, funds the creation of these fleeting events. Entirely not-for-profit, the Gates are an enormous boon to New York City in terms of tourist influx, and a pure, absurdist pleasure for New Yorkers to see Central Park gussied up in drag!

Since the ‘unwrapping’ of the Gates on February 12 th at 8:30 on a sunny Saturday morning, the reception has been vocal and understandably divided – from enthusiastic to derisive to puzzled to purely indifferent. But when this writer was out to watch the early morning unwrapping of the Gates, the mood among the Gates workers was unanimous in its joyous excitement. New York Cool sat down to talk with Annika Connor, one of the many impassioned workers who assisted in the actual construction of the project. An artist herself, Annika was determined to get involved in a Christo project ever since she first saw the Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin as a young girl. Annika, like many of the people who applied to work on the project (The Christos never accept volunteers, and insist on paying anyone who participates in their efforts), is an enthusiastic supporter of the Christos’ vision. Annika, who applied for a place on the Gates crew two years ago, talked fondly of a week spent participating in a true labor of love. In spite of the early hours, getting to site as early as 7 a.m., long days, and some very cold February weather, Annika had only fun memories and praise for her fellow crew-members and for the Christos’ whom she described as ‘extremely genuine, and hands-on.’ It was important to Annika that readers know how great a gift the Christos’ had bestowed on New York. The couple self-subsidized the $21M project entirely, paying the workers (many of whom would have gladly worked for free), ensuring that every element of the Gates would be recycled and reused, and guaranteeing the City of New York that no damage would be done to the Park. The Christos’ have designed a project that truly exists as a fleeting gift, leaving no trace of itself after its disappearance from the Park.

The morning of the unveiling, the whole effort had the feel of an enormous summer camp team project and team members were playful and goofing around just before assembling for a cheery group photo at the Cherry Hill fountain. As clouds broke, word arrived that it was time for the Gates to arrive, and one by one, Velcro strips were pulled, a flash of orange fabric swept down, and the heavy cardboard tubes nestled inside came clattering to the ground. Onlookers cheered and the work continued, and for the rest of the day, Central Park must have felt like the belle of the ball, surely welcoming as many visitors as it had ever seen in recent memory.

People have been flocking to the park to take it all in while they can, taking snapshots at any chance, brief digital memories of the oddity that landed in Central Park. In this, the Gates has become a truly Public art, shared by all and further inspiring others to create art themselves. With their photos, from the banal tourist snapshot to the expertly crafted birds-eye panoramics of the park, and everything in-between, visitors are actively engaging the Christos in lively creative dialogue. And more fascinating still, as visitors send their photos to friends and family unable to come to New York for the event, the Gates takes on a global scale. Like the best art, the Gates poses a question to the masses, and the flood of responses has been as impressive and stimulating as the question.

If you missed the Gates, visit http://christojeanneclaude.net. Start looking into tickets to Colorado now!