Eureka. They've done it.
Someone has finally managed to string up a draw curtain through the mammoth open double that is the Rocky Mountains.
Privacy at last.
For those interested, a film documenting the nine-ton orange nylon drape that spans quarter-mile Rifle Gap in Colorado, and the epic process that was conceiving and constructing it, will be shown starting Monday in Sims Hall as part of a continuing film series.
Four other short movies by the renowned Maysles brothers, directors Albert and David, capturing the development of large-scale and often bizarre art projects by Christo and Jean-Claude, will also be shown throughout the week.
Most of them involve dressing the natural countryside of the world in large quantities of lavish, colorful fabric - just because.
"I think it's kind of weird," said Resident Security Adviser Tim Newville, a sophomore marketing major, as he stood guard at Day Hall. "I probably won't have time to go see it."
In keeping with their fascination with breezy, outdoor barriers of cloth, artists Christo and Jean-Claude are documented in escapades to ring several of Florida's keys in pink lace water lily decoration, run a $3 million white linen fence through California pasture - only to rip it down two weeks later - and wrapping a famous bridge in Paris in tight thread.
The three works, "Islands," "Running Fence" and "Christo in Paris," will be playing in conjunction with Syracuse University Art Collections, which is hosting the five-day Maysles film series. A representative from the collection was not available for comment.
The last movie is all umbrellas - 1,760 of them, to be precise. The smattering of yellow sunshades across the desert margins of Interstate 5 turned heads in California, and the Maysles brothers are betting it will in Syracuse, too.
"The artists chose sites with contrasting cultures, among people who were unsophisticated about art," according to the Maysles' Web site. "During the removal of the umbrellas, an electrical storm took the life of a Japanese construction worker. Like life itself, Christo's art has, in his own words, 'a profound dimension of irrationality.'"
The film series is free and open to the public, and will be screening these five documentaries through Friday.
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