Forty one years ago, an artist couple came to Miami with a visionary idea. They would surround the man-made islands of Biscayne Bay with pink fabric to create an awe-inspiring, temporary work of monumental art.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s “Surrounded Islands” took years to produce. Like all their projects, it was entirely self-funded by the artists through their own art sales and required environmental research, approval from skeptical city authorities, and a crew of hundreds to pull it off.
When it finally wrapped up its two-week run (technically, 11 days), it set a new standard for what art could be and look like in South Florida, setting the pace for Miami’s emergence as an art world epicenter.
“It put Miami on the map. That’s how significant this was, that it made news around the world,” says Bonnie Clearwater, director and chief curator of NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale. She often hears stories about the work from people who experienced it in person, no matter their connection with art.
“(People would say things like) “oh, my office overlooked that,’ ‘we used to boat to it with my family.’ That’s an image that really signaled Miami had come of age and needed to be taken seriously,” she says. “And it was a time when really nobody was taking Miami seriously, other than being the ‘cocaine cowboys’ place. It certainly wasn’t being thought of as a cultural center, or a place where (that kind of) development, this big shift in culture was going to happen. And all of a sudden there’s this project that captures the entire imagination, and it really did trigger what was possible for Miami and South Florida.”
Though it only existed for a short time, the impact of “Surrounded Islands” has continued to resonate, and now, thanks to NSU Art Museum, future generations will be able to experience the moment themselves. The museum has been gifted “Surrounded Islands” and its correlating documents in perpetuity.
Previously shown at the Pérez Art Museum Miami in 2019, with an earlier version organized by Margarita Cano at the Miami-Dade Public Library shortly after the original project ended in 1983, the exhibition displays in painstaking detail all it took to get “Surrounded Islands” off the ground.
There are planning documents, models, and 43 concept art drawings by Christo himself. There are photographs of laborers installing the work, and of the work itself being enjoyed by Miamians. There’s even pieces of the original pink fabric tarp. Not only is it an important work of historical documentation, ensuring the project will remain in people’s minds long after it has ceased to exist in the real world, but it also serves as a reminder that these projects were massive collective endeavors dedicated to art for art’s sake.
Thankfully, art lovers won’t have to wait long to see the show again. NSU Art Museum plans to re-stage the exhibition in February 2025. Beyond that, Clearwater hopes the university can become a destination for research on Christo and Jeanne-Claude and their artworks.
NSU Art Museum was approached by the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation to serve as the home of the “Surrounded Islands” show, for reasons that include its connections to the university and the local arts community. That’s according to a statement from foundation president Karin J. Barkhorn.
“The museum’s dedication to exploring topics that deeply connect with the South Florida community and its commitment to fostering meaningful discussions through scholarly research align with the ethos of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s art,” says Barkhorn. “We are particularly excited that the museum will permanently display key sections of this historic exhibition, ensuring that the legacy of ‘Surrounded Islands’ continues to inspire awe for generations to come.”
According to Clearwater, the majority of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s large-scale projects have been given similar documentary exhibitions, all of which are placed within the region where each work was staged. The shows for their “Wrapped Reichstag” in Berlin and “The Ponf Neuf Wrapped” in Paris, for instance, are held in the German parliament building and the Centre Pompidou, respectively. Their preservation has grown in importance since the artists have passed away, first Jeanne-Claude in 2009, then Christo in 2020; their last planned project, “L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped,” was executed in 2021. They leave behind a legacy and an ethos that the curator doesn’t expect will ever be replicated.
“It wouldn’t be the same. It wasn’t just about staging it, it really is about how to mobilize a community,” she says. “They paid for the entire work themselves, that’s part of it. It was part of that time of artists conceiving of artworks that would subvert the gallery system, that would not be transformed into a commodity. So yeah, someone could make a big splash like that again today, but it’s out of context. It was so much more than just wrapping those islands.”
More information and details are expected to be released about the exhibition coming up in February 2025 at the NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale.
