05 July 2016
After attending the world exposition ( EXPO) in Milan in 2015, Professional Relo’s team shared one more unique event: The Floating Piers, the latest installation by the Bulgarian-born artist living in New York, Vladimirov Yavacheff Christo.
(http://www.christojeanneclaude.net/projects/the-floating-piers#.V3ksxEkkrmI).
The Floating Piers had first been conceived by Christo and his wife, Jeann-Claude, back in 1970. They had initially planned to set their installation on the Río de la Plata, in Argentina, and later in Tokyo, in Japan. However, they never obtained permission to carry out their project there. In 2009 Jeanne-Claude passed away, but Christo did not give himself up; indeed, he became increasingly determined to put up the project he had developed with his beloved wife. In 2014 he found Lake Iseo to be the most charming location for their installation.
So for sixteen days – June 18 through July 3, 2016 – a floating walkway stretching for over 4 km connected the village of Sulzano with Monte Isola, which ranks as Europe’s highest lake island (600 metres above sea level), and the island of San Paolo.
The 2000 inhabitants of Monte Isola, commonly called Montisola, were literally overwhelmed, every day, by the coming of tens of thousands of people, who walked on the installation covered with bright saffron-coloured fabric. Over one million three hundred thousand people walked on the floating piers in 16 days!
This was considered one of the world’s most important events in 2016, and Professional Relo could not miss it. Maddalena and her well-integrated team literally “walked on the water” at sunset on a beautiful summer night, and also had the privilege of seeing the artist, Christo, pass by, as he was in the location on the days preceding the closing of the event.
It was an amazing experience, full of emotions and memories. It also meant one more opportunity to gel with, and get to know, each other, laugh and have fun together.
