A photo of a nervous-looking Christo as a young man was also on display at the L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped exhibition

The Arc de Triomphe in Paris was wrapped in fabric in 2021. The Arc de Triomphe, the symbol of Paris, has been completely covered with fabric in a project called "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped" by the artist team "Christo and Jeanne-Claude". As big as the Arc de Triomphe is, you would be wrong if you thought it was just wrapped in fabric. The idea to wrap the Arc de Triomphe was born in 1961, which means that it took 60 years from conception to realization. So long, in fact, that both Christo (died in 2020) and Jeanne-Claude (died in 2009) died before the project was completed.

The exhibition at 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT in Tokyo Midtown in Akasaka was a project that focused on the production background and the long road to realization of this grand project. Among the many archival images and videos, it was Christo's photographs from his youth that caught my interest. It was an image of a nervous-looking young man in a suit staring into the lens that appeared upon entering the exhibition. This must have been around the time he conceived of the project "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped". By the time the project was realized, the slender young man had grown old and died. So much time is packed into this exhibition. As I looked at the exhibits, I felt like I was growing old, too.

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