CHRISTO
(13 June 1935 – 31 May 2020)
He will not live to see the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. CHRISTO, who together with Jeanne-Claude played a decisive role in the expansion of contemporary art, passed away on Sunday, 31 May 2020 in his house in New York, shortly before the realisation of this project which was so important to him. Christo Vladimirov Javacheff, a great, very special artist, had already very early on been involved with the wrapping of the Anti-Aircraft Tower in Vienna. When I confronted him with my CAT project, Contemporary Art Tower, also a “memorial to never forget the Nazi regime and its war”, he and Jeanne-Claude spontaneously decided to support me in the realisation of my project with vigour and passion. He has repeatedly made public statements, there was a specially organised press conference in Vienna at the Anti-Aircraft Tower, and Austrian Post issued a special postage stamp to mark this event. His untimely passing hurts. His untimely demise hurts. He is missing. I miss him. I miss the friend. I miss the tireless fighter for contemporary art, an art of new standards dedicated to experiment and human-involving adventure. “You only make real art for yourself. Everything else is propaganda”
—pn
![<p>CHRISTO, 2007 Wrapped FLAK Tower [“a vision of the wrapped Flak Tower wich subsequently transforms into the CAT”] and: P.Noever, M.Embacher, S.Müller, 2000: CAT – The 21st Century Collection. Two Austrian Stamps € 0,55 — © archiv peter noever</p>](tl_files/directorscut/christo/christo-austria-stamp-reichstag-flakturm.jpg)
