The Pont Neuf, the oldest stone bridge in Paris, was built over the Seine between the 15th and 16th centuries to connect the Rive Gauche to the Rive Droit via the Île de la Cité. With a structure of 12 arched spans and
prismatic pylons with vertical axes to
facilitate resistance to the thrust of the water, it extends 232 meters in length and has a 11.5-meter
carriageway. Compared to the tradition of the time, two innovations stand
out the 4.5-meter sidewalks and the semicircular balconies
overlooking the river
located near the pylons. The 20 lanterns were replaced by street lamps in 1854.
The Pont Neuf, like other contemporary bridges, follows the Roman
tradition of the "énorme pousse", almost completing the orography of the
landscape. This concept is based on static reasons, but also
responds to the instinctive fear of "walking on water". The first bridges were called "devil's bridges", and popular tradition held that a cat or dog would cross the bridge first. A trace of this atavistic fear is found in the many "mascherons", large masks, each
one different from the other, carved along the cornices, representing various deities of Celtic and Roman origin, and in any case symbols of protection from evil spirits.
440 thousand square feet of woven polyamide fabric, silky in appearance and golden sandstone in color cover in 1985, the sides and vault of twelve arches, the parapets, the sidewalks and curbs and even the street lamps of both side: The Pont Neuf Wrapped by Christo and Jeanne Claude.
The bridge is dressed as if it were a "grand dame", with pleated skirts,
highlighted curves, and even "earrings" that light up at night. Metaphor aside, robes hold down the fabric to the bridge surface and maintain the principal shapes, accentuating relief while emphasizing proportions and details.
More over, there are no opening hours, sunset and sunrise are as acceptable as noon, while the light at different times of the day reflects different ways of seeing.
During the two weeks of installation, traffic could flow as usual and this
functional aspect constitutes a further confirmation of the attention of Christo and Janne Caude to the epistemology of the bridge as a comparison between nature and artifice and as a point of reference or
even of polarization of the territory. As in other projects, the attitude is user-friendly both towards the workers and towards the public, and towards the context. And even in its ephemeral nature, the work lasts only a few days, leaving a landscape in the memory.
Jeanne- Claude: "a shout for freedom".
The Caverne du Pont Neuf is limited to five arches of the bridge, with heights ranging from 12 to 18 meters. It is a structure covered in highly tensile polymer fabric, printed with water based HP inks aimed to represent trompe l'oeil images, depicting steep landscapes and even snowy peaks, almost a
ventilated that extends in the pillon uses approximately 19,000 square meters of fabric and 20,000 cubic meters of compressed air, as well as countless cables.
It is therefore majestic and imposing in
mountain range. The light reflects the surface with short chorioscuro effects that extend on the pillars.
It is constructed using a pneumatic system, inflatable double walled structure permanently
JR's inspiration would be the "Paris stone" quarries, which are effectively underground mines of Lutetian limestone, which here take on the architectural character of a hut, an archetype of a different nature from the bridge: there one lives, here one walks. Indeed, a hybridization is provided
itself and compared to its context: the Rive Gauche itself chases along the banks, almost intimidated, and the Seine itself encounters a mysterious figure who nevertheless maintains its right of passage.
by inhabited bridges, such as the Ponte Vecchio in Florence or the Rialto Bridge in Venice, which took advantage of duty-free passage and yet remained open to the sky. La Caverne, on the other hand, presents itself as a space itself covered in printed canvas, revealing multiple, narrower voids,
sinuous tunnels and surreal struts, evocative chiaroscuro effects in a multisensory space with the sonic dimension of Thomas Banalter, the augmented reality of AR Studio Paris with Echoes, which manifest themselves in the space as persistent traces and presences suspended in time.
JR: "J'ai conçu le parcours ŕ travers la Caverne comme une expérience oů le plein et le vide coexisteront en équilibre."
