We're here now, and all maps of Miami of 1980, when we have these man-made islands spotted
from seven miles from north to south.
That was done by the dredging Intracoastal Waterway, piling the earth and the vegetation
start to grow.
We decided, surround these islands with floating pink fabric.
But in the beginning, the very early sketches, that pink fabric is very light, barely pink,
because I was very uneasy with that fabric.
You know, this is the very early drawing, and basically some idea.
[Lolo] Yeah.
May I ask you, why pink?
That is another important part.
You know, when we arrive here.
Actually, when I arrived with Jeanne-Claude before in Miami in the late 70s to lecture,
and we discovered for the first time so flat land.
There are no mountains.
They're flat, lot of water.
Of course, the earth, vegetation, island, it's all flat land.
And of course one very interesting thing, the air is full of water.
Many think air full of water, and everything look pastel, very washed by the thickness
of that.
At the same time, we discovered the incredible amount of other people living here, the Latin
people that not live in any place in the United States so much like here.
And more and more, we understand that project should be related to that Latin culture which
is in the heart of Miami.
And this is that shocking pink come.
In all our project for over 50 years, they're temporary project.
They exist only for a few days and two weeks, three weeks maximum, and they're gone.
And Jeanne-Claude and myself always tried to have some material or some record of that
project.
This is why all our project, they're filmed, photographed.
And they are removed, we collect components of the project, the real thing, not only documents
and archive material components of the project.
That exhibition is exactly the same story.
We own this exhibition; they belong to me.
But here, understand, the project at that time was estimated having cost between $4
or $5 million at that time.
I need to start to draw.
Drawings, a study.
And this is the really simple drawings when I used originally pinkish fabric.
I draw with my own hands.
Sending this type of works to collectors and dealers around the world, we can have money,
pay the payroll of everybody fabricating, manufacturing, all this very complex project.
You see these very early drawings.
They are done all before.
The drawings translate how the project is crystallized visually through the knowing
design.
And we, of course, use a huge team of professional people.
You should understand, all these project, they're not only me, Jeanne-Claude.
The most important is put together enormous amount of professionals to help us do the
project.
But the very important part, before everything, everything in the world belong to somebody.
There's not one square meter in the world don't belong to somebody.
In the very beginning, we needed to discover from whom we can use and rent the land.
And we discover right away that everything start from the president of the United States.
United States Army Corps of Engineers in Jacksonville to the governor of Florida at that time, Bob
Graham, the to Dade County, all the community in Dade County was principal players to give
us permission for that project.
Other side you have the permitting process in the authority and administration.
You see that from the very beginning, presenting the project to different group, and always
explaining to different group.
This is in the Dade County; this is the public hearings.
We have a snag.
There was the opposition, come to stop the project, interfere, and finally the project
come.
This is the only one of our project in the last 50 years come to the United States Federal
Court.
And this is the case, federal case, drawing of the federal court here, during the process.
And the entire finding of the case is here.
You can look everything, everybody can see the thing how it happened.
This is why the exhibition telling really the invisible part for many people how the
project was developing.
Then here you have that model who was built in '82, or '81, late '81 to articulate the
project, how we look.
And this is the Pelican Harbor.
And this is the island just around the Pelican.
Actually, this is here, our headquarter was there.
This is our heliport during the exhibition of the project.
And this was in the main library?
Yes.
This piece?
For the permitting process, to bring the elected officials to see how the project will be done
and to explain to them.
To try to open their minds and give them a taste of your vision for it.
Yeah.
This is a story of the Solomon Islands.
The most difficult part in any of our project, not only our project, to find right engineers.
This is a spring project, and early January we start to install these thousand of marine
anchors deep down in the water.
You see, this is the island.
Now see what is under the fabric.
Nobody know.
This is all line, like spokes, bicycle spoke, going under the fabric, securing exactly the
shape how the island.
This number one, this is another island, how they were intricately designed.
And the fabric was fabricated now in Germany.
Non-stop, around the clock, day and night, they were removing this thing in the water
here, and from here, installing underwater the anchors.
The little dots is exactly all these anchors down in the water.
Once that was installed, start unfurling of the fabric and lacing the fabric together
to become one single piece.
Here you can see how the fabric was unfurled from there like a fisherman.
Each island have a group of young people with their own captains.
They unfurl the fabric here in the water, all these lines, and they start lacing together
all these separate section.
And this is al the story of the project.
But there was not any sewing space so big that we can use it.
Our project director, Ted Dougherty, from Colorado decided to build huge sewing plant
around Opa-Locka, when we did something incredibly clever.
Instead to move the fabric, the sewing machine was moving on railroad tracks.
And this is where the factory was opened and the day was spent usually moving the fabric.
Once that fabric was sewn in these many, many section, like this is one section, this is
one section, now to come to the very complicated part to folding the fabric, and the huge like
big sausages, long sausages.
Like some of them were very long in some place.
And we rented Opa-Locka blimp hangar.
And you see here they are folding the fabric.
They are folding the fabric in many, many sections.
This folding fabric was sent to the Interama, north of the site of the project, where the
young people need to put that special ending on the fabric, the boom, octangular shaped
boom that can stop the debris of the water going over the fabric.
Obviously you did find a lot of help down here to help make it happen, and the community
came together.
Yes, and of course, many, many stories.
It was so funny.
Very revealing story.
We have professional people, but we have a huge amount of non-skilled workers to unfurl
that fabric.
Each island have a captain, and that captain was involved in taking care of the workers'
position to the island, working non-stop into the night, and the boat was coming to take
them, supplying them with food.
And we hand out a workforce.
We were trying to employ all the students, young people, et cetera.
And suddenly there was something come so beautiful.
There was the Haitian refugees just arriving at that time.
And they were al speaking French.
And my son, who was the captain on island number eight, was speaking French.
Jeanne-Claude decide, "Cyril, you should be captain "of island eight.
"We send you all the Haitian workers with you "that he can give command in French to
work that."
Oh, that's wonderful.
So you incorporated the Latin culture, the Haitian culture, all the culture of Miami.
People don't understand how this project effect.
Because we never do commissions.
The journey of the project is the work of art.
Yes.
All our project have two distinct period: the software period and the hardware period.
For three years before the Surrounded Islands was realized, there was three years of journey
that I do not know.
To that journey the project built its impact to the space, to the permitting process, because
we discover was it a project through the permitting process.
In the last 50 years, we realize only 23 projects, and we failed get permission for 47 project.
Wow.
And this is why usually the art world do not understand.
This project beyond painting and sculpture.
The project was something on different realm of the visual experience.
So the software period, when the project is only my drawings and the mind of the people
who try to stop us and the mind of people who help us build, the project built all identity,
all energy.
In the hardware period, when the project finally will build, the physical, one kilometer, two
kilometer, real water, not photograph of water, not film of the water, the real seven miles,
the real wind, the real hot, the real wet, all is real, not virtual reality.
This project engaged the real reality of things, the real human relation.
All our project have this relation to the space and the aesthetic.
You know, the exhibition cannot substitute the project, but the exhibition at least gives
some kind of links with the real thing.
This is why all this material use of the project, we are very careful to exhibit it to people
to see the real thing; not only photography, the real documents, the real archive material,
the real invisible part, because everybody see only like that, but what is underneath
in the water and around that fabric?
I know that there was already a museum of contemporary art who was the origin of that
museum in the beginning.
There was the number of collectors we have, but there was no way to speculate in 1983
what Miami is today.
You know, really, it's unthinkable.
And of course, in some way probably that was helping.
I don't know.
Well, at the very least, a project of this scale in the city inspired so many artists,
just to see what's possible.
For me and Jeanne-Claude and many friends who work together for a long time, it's like
an incredible life of adventure, you know.
It's something so unique that I never did it.
It's risky, you know, and many things sometimes don't happen well.
And all that keep you alive.
This is probably the biggest pleasure I have that still at 83 I can do that.
That to face that challenge and to take my brain working.
Jeanne-Claude and myself, each time we do a project, the place became a part of ourselves,
you know.
And we always like to be back on the site of the project like criminals who return to
the crime.
We love to be back to Australia and the Coastline we did over 50 years ago.
We return back to Running Fence, we return back to Paris, to Reichstag.
And of course this is part of my blood, and my life, and my incredible journey in my life
who I will never forget, and this why we do project.
I will never looking for some retrospective things.
Often artists of my age like to have a retrospective.
I always say to our friends they will do a retrospective when I'm dead.
I like to do the new things because doing this project kept me at an age of life.
This is something old and new.
I will never do another Surrounded Islands.
I will never do another Gates or wrap a bridge.
They're all unique pieces, and I do not know how to do it.
Many specialists we had didn't know how to do it.
It's never built like that.
And that journey is the part of a project.