Christo

Oberhausen

18 years after the wrapping of the Reichstag and 14 years after the installation “The Wall“ as the finale of the Emscher Park International Building Exhibition, Christo is returning to Germany with a further extraordinary art project. He currently fills the Oberhausen Gasometer with his ‚Big Air Package‘.

The Big Air Package – Project for Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany was conceived by Christo in 2010 and will be on show until December 30, 2013. The sculpture is be set up in the interior of the industrial monument and made of 20,350 square metres of translucent fabric and 4,500 metres of rope. In the inflated state, the envelope, with a weight of 5.3 tons, reaches a height of more than 90 metres, a diameter of 50 metres and a volume of 177,000 cubic metres. ‚The Big Air Package‘ extends almost from wall to wall of the former gas holder and leaves merely the narrow surrounding passageway free from which the sculpture can be viewed from all sides. Moreover, air locks enable the visitors to experience the monumental work of art from the inside. Two fans generate a constant air pressure of 20 pascal (0.2 millibar) and keep the work of art upright.

‚The Big Air Package‘ will thus be the largest inflatable envelope ever created that manages without a skeleton.

‚The Big Air Package‘ sculpture is accompanied by an exhibition at the lowest level in the Gasometer. It shows a selection of the most important projects realised by Christo and Jeanne-Claude in the most varied places throughout the world over the past five decades.

Christo

Gasometer Oberhausen

March 16 – December 30, 2013
Arenastraße 11
46047 Oberhausen
Germany

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