Explore the Installation of this artwork.
The art installation consisted of a veiled fence 24.5 miles (39.4 km) long extending across the hills of Sonoma and Marin counties in northern California, United States.  The 18-foot (5.5 m) high fence was made of 200,000 square meters (2,222,222 square feet) of heavy woven white nylon fabric, which created 2,050 panels, and was hung from steel cables by means of 350,000 hooks.  The cables were supported by 2,050 steel poles (each: 6.4 meters / 21 feet long or 9 centimeters / 3.5 inches in diameter) embedded 1 meter (3 feet) into the ground, braced by steel guy wires (145 kilometers / 90 miles of steel cable), 14,000 earth anchors, and without any concrete.The route of the fence began near U.S. Highway 101 and crossed 14 roads and the private property of 59 ranchers to reach the Pacific Ocean south of Bodega Bay. The fence entered the Pacific Ocean at a point about midway between the Estero Americano and the Estero de San Antonio, in northwestern Marin County. The art project required 42 months of collaborative efforts, 18 public hearings, 3 sessions at the Superior Courts of California, and the drafting of an Environmental Impact Report (EIR); the required EIR for the piece was 450 pages long.All expenses for the temporary work of art were paid by Christo and Jeanne-Claude through the sale of studies, preparatory drawings and collages, scale models and original lithographs.Originally conceived in 1972 as Curtains for West Berlin to block the view of the Berlin Wall, the project relocated to rural Sonoma and Marin Counties just south of the historic Russian settlements of Fort Ross and Port Rumyantsev at Bodega Bay in the Mexican bulwark of Rancho Americano. It is also said to have been partly inspired by fences demarcating the Continental Divide in Colorado.  Christo emphasized that he considered Running Fence to encompass its social, legal, and technical dimensions.
Rumyantsev Berlin Wall Marin EIR California Christo and Jeanne-Claude Continental Divide Sonoma Pacific Ocean Estero Americano United States Bodega Bay U.S. Highway 101 Fort Ross Colorado Estero de San Antonio Rancho Americano