The experience

[Christo, sitting down with three workers to discuss his proposal to wrap the iconic Pont Neuf with fabric.]

Worker: “Paintings are witnesses of the evolution of a certain era. But here there will be nothing left in the end…”

Christo: “But wait. Each era has its own means. We now have electronics. There is a camera filming us now. Imagine if under Louis XIV there were cameras. That would be extraordinary. The 20th century has developed new means of memory, and all this is a question of historical memory.”

Worker: “It gives me a feeling of uselessness because it’s temporary." 

Christo: "Because it’s going to disappear after 2 weeks? But in the end, the experience, you can never take that away.”

From the documentary Christo in Paris, 1990