THE GATES

By Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Central Park, New York, February 2005


A website by Susanne Schulmeister


"What makes 'The Gates' such a fitting project for New York, is that as gates welcome
people in, so has New York for so many. Whether in search of careers, lovers,
cultures or new perspectives, this city offers everyone that opportunity."
(Felice Cohen, amNewYork)


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Here's the photos I took on February 15,
a sunny day, for you to enjoy:

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"New Yorkers are a notoriously tough crowd. But I was struck by what I overheard a stranger say.
She was a doubter won over yesterday. 'It will be fascinating when they're gone', she mused.

It took me a second to realize what she meant: that the gates, by ravishing the eye,
have already impressed an image of the park on the memories of everyone who has seen them.
And like all vivid memories, that image can take a place in the imagination, like a smell or some notes
of music or a breeze, waiting to be rekindled.

Once upon a time there were 'The Gates'. The time is now."

(Michael Kimmelman, New York Times)

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Here's the photos I took on February 20 and 21:







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I like how the light shines through the panels here, making them glow like a sunset.

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This is the same view as the second photo from the top, at approximately
the same time, but a different day (Feb 21). The snow is nice, but if you ask me, The Gates just
don't work if the sun isn't shining through them.

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Ahhhh -- much better. Same view, Feb 25, 10:15 am, fresh snow -- and sunshine!

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See what I mean?

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Jake Dobkin has some very nice nighttime pictures of The Gates here: 1 2
I also like some of these pics by Jake: 3


For a nice view of The Gates from up above, check out this Satellite image


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Due to popular demand, here again my rendition of The Gates in yellow:












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Oh, no, Geoff Hargadon's Somerville Gates are gone!
Here you can read something about their impact.
According to the New York Times, they were set up by following
Edie's (the cat) footsteps. Cute idea.
This is what Hargo said in a web posting why they were taken down:
"I noticed your comments, and I thank you for tuning in when the site was up. The main reason why it's down is that it was time to capture the moment, instead of letting it linger on into obscurity. A secondary reason was that it was taking over my life. The bandwidth/cost issue has been overstated: I worked out a short term deal with my ISP, and have received numerous offers to host the site for free. But I think I'll just leave it the way it was."

These are some of the Somerville Gates pictures:


The Door Gates





The Media Gates





The Feeding Gates





The Tub Gates
(Doesn't Edie look absolutely adorable in this one?)




The Farewell Gates


Here you can see a slideshow with the photographs, which has some more of them.
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