Italian Consumer Group Wants Investigation Into Christo Artwork
Jean Claude and Christo’s latest massive public art installation, The Floating Piers, transforms lake Iseo in Italy with 100,000 square meters of yellow fabric over 220,000 polyethylene cubes that ripple with the water underneath, and create a three-kilometer bridge for tourists to walk across.
As noted by Christo, the bridge is, like all of their projects, “absolutely free and accessible 24 hours a day, weather permitting, there are no tickets, no openings, no reservations and no owners. The Floating Piers are an extension of the street and belong to everyone.” Only one week after the June 18th opening, the Italian consumer group Codacons, announced it will be filing a complaint in regards to unreasonable waste of public money. The complaint sparked from uncontrollable crowds resulting in local authorities blocking visitors from crossing, leaving 3,000 people stranded at the Brescia train station. Codacons claims costs of evacuating tourists, and the post-mayhem clean up make the installation too costly to the taxpayers.