The Floating Piers – Christo and Jeanne-Claude
What a journey. After countless hours (just kidding, I counted- it was about 8-9 hours) of waiting, we arrived at a once-in-a-lifetime art installation on Lake Iseo. The heat building in my cheeks from the sun exposure became cool from the air that floated up from the water of Lake Iseo. The blisters on my feet vanished as I walked across the soft fabric lining the piers, the bumps in the material emulating the waves. To me, the way the piers seemed like the waves of the lake was the most beautiful part.
The Floating Piers is a temporary work, so we are lucky to be among the expected thousands that will ever experience it. This ephemeral quality of the installation is what always draws people to Christo’s work. Especially for the Floating Piers, it is given a spiritual feeling- visiting this work is truly like a pilgrimage. Combine this spiritual undertone with the sensation of walking on water- well, it’s all very religious. Perhaps it is only meant to be something beautiful- fleeting, but beautiful, as is life.
This outlook that the work inspires- to appreciate the beauty right in front of you, in this moment- is what made me so entranced by the swans. Swans themselves are so beautiful and magical-feeling, it only felt right that they fit right in with the dreamy state of the whole expedition. Even if there was no intention for the Floating Piers to seem as spiritual as it did, there’s no doubt that the natural beauty of Lake Iseo was meant to enhance the wonder of the installation.