“Surrounded Islands” Christo’s Project – Biscayne Bay c.1983
(For the Miami Perez Art Museum’s 35th Anniversary Exhibition, they created a wonderful and extensive show of all aspects of Christo’s Surrounded Islands project in Biscayne Bay, c.1983. This article is a result of visiting that exhibition on the day of their 35th-anniversary celebration. All photos were taken with the permission of the museum staff and the information in the text was gathered from the exhibition sources.)
To so many people, art is questioned whether it has any relevance to their everyday life and any importance to the average person on the street. Many say ART is just a playground for the rich and famous, for oneupmanship while outbidding each other for prestige in their personal art collections. Miami has become an example where several times art has changed the economic landscape and every person in the city has benefited from the events. In the early 1980s Christo and his wife/art-partner Jeanne-Claude proposed and executed an art installation in the middle of Biscayne Bay titled “Surrounded Islands”.
The conceptual artists made their name mostly from wrapping famous buildings, bridges and architectural objects around the world, creating huge, unique, soft, package-like sculptures, displayed for only a few weeks. In Miami, Florida the Christos wanted to conceptually paint the water around the small islands in Biscayne Bay in shocking PINK, to accentuate the green color of the island foliage and the blue of the water.
The project would be 100% paid for by the artists, but it took years to sell the idea to the elected leaders and environmentalist of the cities and counties that all considered the Bay their responsibility to protect and defend. When the artwork was finally completed, the tourists came pouring in by the hundreds of thousands. The city of Miami Beach restored some of their art deco hotels to house the art tourist and that impact is still alive today as the Art Deco section of South Beach, completely restored now, with new renovations all of the time, is still one of the most popular tourist sites in Miami.
Years later the international Art Fair called “Miami Basil”, was the second huge art project for the city. It currently brings thousands of art tourists each year to the city, but they spend between $40 to $50 million dollars while they are in town, creating a huge financial bonus for city and bringing a fresh, cutting edge vibrancy to Miami.
So to all the naysayers who have trouble seeing the value of art, take Christo’s “Surrounded Islands” conceptual art project, and see ART can change the economy of a huge metropolitan area for the better, where literally everyone in the community benefits from that artwork.
In the early 1980s Tourism was down in Miami and officials were deeply worried, so they started trying to find ways to improve the economy. It was in Miami that Christo was brought in by the Center of the Fine Arts (now The Perez Art Museum). They assumed he could maybe wrap a building and bring some publicity to the city.
When the Christos came to Miami they were being driven around by a reporter from the Miami Herald, who said the couple became fascinated with the various bridges and causeways crossing Biscayne Bay. Over to the beaches and back to downtown Miami she drove them, without any explanation they went over every connecting structure causeway and bridge then asked to go back over again and again. Never saying they were looking at the islands, to the reporter they seemed obsessed with the bridges and causeways.
More than six million yards of Pink Polypropylene was sewn together and engineered to conform to Christo’s exact outline he wanted around each island.
Before the actual assembly started Christo gathered the huge group of workers together and holding up some papers, over his bull horn said, “If there is one violation of one provision of this environmental permit, I will consider the project a failure.” Environmental protection was the first and most important consideration. Everybody working on the project had to read the environmental permit and sign a form stating they understood it. During the duration of the project, a boat constantly circled each island, checking to make certain no bird or other wildlife got caught in the fabric. If so, it could quickly be rescued.
The huge production of putting all of the parts together with the floating edges, the fabric, the anchors and the chords tying the cloth together, started one day and did not stop for four days, until the project was done. When many suggested they take a day off, Jeanne-Claude remarked, “A mother giving birth does not have the option of stopping the process to take a break, once started, it must be completed.” Hundreds of volunteers, receiving just enough money for some food and drink, worked tirelessly until the project was properly finished.
Christo put his office in the Art Deco District of South Beach which, at that time, was completely neglected and deteriorated. They worked very hard to paint a section of the district with pastel colors until that small area looked like different sherbets – bringing out the interesting details of the Art Deco buildings. The largest collectors were put up in a hotel in the district – one of Christo’s friends restored it just for this event. The “Surrounded Islands” project started a revolution of beauty in the Art Deco District of Miami Beach, and today the area is a paradise of pastel colors, accentuating the Art Deco details of every building. It has become some of the most expensive real estate in all of Florida.
The way the Christos work: They are conceptual artists, so they first come up with an idea, then Christo draws up visualizations of their concept. These artworks are sold to collectors, for very high prices, to raise the money for the creation of their expensive, environmental constructions, called installations.
The City and County Governments in and around Miami had trouble believing there would be no cost to their taxpayers, and many elected officials objected strictly on the grounds of the costs. The recurring theme was, “Can’t we use that money somewhere else?” having trouble believing the project was FREE, all expenses funded by the artists.
The other very real objection was from environmental groups, who worried about the impact this project could have on wildlife – the birds, fish, manatees, etc. and on the overall ecosystem of Biscayne Bay.
The benefit to the city would be that the proposed project would make Miami, Florida the centerpiece of news coverage about the artwork, all around the world for that year!
One environmental attorney on the council gave a strong speech against the project, the debate afterward was electric, back and forth, back and forth it went, then the environmental attorney called for a vote by the council… and the project was defeated 5 to 4. THE WHOLE PROJECT WAS DEAD! As the attorney left for lunch Christo and Jeanne-Claude stopped him and very humbly and very kindly said they respected his position about this project, but could they take him to lunch and discuss it a little more. During the discussion, the attorney asked his straight forward question, “Explain to me, why this is art?” Christo explained that anything that teaches you something, that moves you, can be classified as art. He explained that the publicity from the installation would teach the world about the beauty and the unique environment of Miami’s own Biscayne Bay. The attorney asked if Christo could create a signed and numbered edition of prints, strictly to raise money for the maintenance and care of Biscayne Bay, then conceded he had been naive about the project and “Surrounded Islands” was indeed art. Since he had made the motion to take the vote, under Robert’s Rules of Order he could go back and ask the council to reconsider their last vote. Which he did and the measure passed with his support. Christo did create an edition of artworks for the Biscayne Bay Conservancy, which raised $150,000 for that organization.
Ultimately all concerns were addressed and the project was given the green light by all municipalities. Under the direction of the Christos and working with The Army Corps of Engineers, the impact on the public waterway was the number one concern and the number one directive understood by all involved.
These normally un-noticed islands, created when the Bay was dredged to allow larger ships into the bay, suddenly became “a topic” and every citizen of the greater Miami area had a strong opinion, either positive or negative.
“Surrounded Islands” in its final installed form was beautiful and moved almost everybody who saw it in a very positive way. One observer said after its removal, “It was like a jazz solo, the beauty was there, enjoyed, then it was gone!” Only now residing in photos and the collective memories of those who worked on it and those who viewed it. While “Surrounded Islands” was up, it was alive… constantly rippling and the wet surface reflecting the sunlight and the sunsets in indescribable ways. The pink of the material, the green of the foliage and the blue of the water in Biscayne Bay was constantly changing, depending upon the light at that moment.
Although it was a huge struggle of orchestrated effort and human activity… of people and technical problems… of diverse opinions and worries… during the years of designing, selling and constructing the elements for the multi-day installation – the project took only a few hours of organized effort to properly dismantle and haul it all away using tugboats.
Christo’s “Surrounded Islands Project” cost the taxpayers of the Miami area nothing, but truly delivered a better future through tourism, urban renewal and the complete revival of Miami Beach. The entire Miami/Dade Metropolitan Area benefited from the boost to the economy and the momentum is still being felt today.
It’s amazing what art can do!
(Source: All information and images in this article came from the exhibition “Surrounded Islands” at The Perez Art Museum. Photos and information gathered were all done with the permission of the museum staff.)
