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The Gates The Gates is a site-specific art installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The artists installed 7,503 metal "gates" along 23 miles (37 km) of pathways in Central Park in New York City. From each gate hung a flag-shaped piece of saffron-colored nylon fabric. The exhibit ran from February 12, 2005 through February 27, 2005. The books and other memorabilia distributed by Christo and Jeanne-Claude refer to the project as The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979-2005 in reference to the time that passed from the artists' initial proposal until they were able to go ahead with it. The Gates were greeted with mixed reactions. Some people loved them for brightening the bleak winter landscape; others hated them, accusing them of defacing the landscape. Some cyclists saw them as an obstruction which could cause accidents, although cycling is not legal on those paths. They received a great deal of their nationwide fame as a frequent object of ridicule by David Letterman. The total materials used according to the artists were
5,390 tons of steel, 315,491 feet (96 km) of vinyl tubing, 99,155 square
metres of fabric, and 15,000 sets of brackets and hardware. The gates
were assembled in a 25,000 square foot (2,300 m²) Long Island facility,
then shipped to Central Park. The textiles were produced in Germany.
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