The Gates, An Exhibit in Central Park

 

On Saturday February 12, 2005, 7500 sheets of saffron fabric were unfurled in 7500 gates that are located in New York City’s Central Park.  When the media started talking about this exhibit, the name itself, The Gates, raised a spiritual question mark.  Gates, generally, are an opening to something.  The Gates may represent a portal for the ancient Roman gods to bring a false sense of healing as people walk through the gates connecting with the flowing fabric.  Although the artists do no imply that these are anything but art, the enemy can use them for his purpose, if they are not guarded with prayer.  One of the visitors of the exhibit stated in an article on www.foxnews.com, “It’s become like a holy place to walk.”  A visitor from German said, “I came for this. It’s poetry in motion. It’s for the moment — a kind of Zen.” 

Saffron was first known to be the herb of the sun.  For a weaver in ancient times, it brought about brilliance to rugs, togas, saris, shawls, lace, linen, silk.  For the artist, the vividness of yellow was achieved.  For medicinal purposes, it gave hope to some suffering from smallpox, kidney disease, insomnia, indigestion, and signified fear for others.  Last but not least, for cooks, saffron allowed the brightness of the sun to be placed on a dining table.  The early Persian civilizations spread this “wealth” with surrounding areas such as the Indus Valley and the western shores of the Mediterranean.  The Egyptians cultivated vast fields of it to mix with honey, and Romans sought saffron as a curative and aphrodisiac. Wealthy Romans sprinkled their marriage beds with saffron. In the Middle Ages, saffron traveled across North Africa, along with Islam, into Spain. Medieval Spain quickly became the center of saffron production. Not only was saffron used as a medieval flavoring, but scholars as notable as Roger Bacon claimed that saffron would defray the effects of aging and add to the joy in one’s life.  (from Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, A History of Food (Cambridge MA, USA: Blackwell, 1992). Pp. 518-519 and http://www.saffronbymail.com/p8.html)

In regard to the 7500 gates, the artists do not provide an explanation as to why the number 7500 was chosen.  It is interesting to note that Hebrew word associated with the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance number 7500 – is “health.”

The exhibit is scheduled to be in place for only 16 days.  The artists have stated that in relationship to the “life” of The Gates: 

“Their short life-spans creates a preciousness and an urgency, encouraging us to bear witness and drink in the art as much as we can, while we can, all the while knowing it may well be gone the next time we visit the site -- in this case Central Park.  Our memories of this experience are how the artwork changes us -- perhaps the most powerful force of art, that the changes made are not in the site, but in us.” 

Another interesting piece of information that was obtained while searching the internet for more information about The Gates is related to a website whose address is “the gates-watch.”  Granted they are selling souvenir watches with a picture of the gates on the face of the watch, but we need to be aware that God is calling us to “watch” over these gates to ensure there is no false sense of healing that occurs.  As the artists stated above, the force of art has impact on people.  The only true and lasting impact on people comes from the “force of God” – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Please join us in prayer that those who visit this exhibit will not be caught up in the wrong spirit. 

Thank you and blessing on behalf of the Watchman Network,

Dana

The following is an article from the Associated Press concerning the exhibit.

NEW YORK - “The Gates” are open — all 7,500 of ’em.

The biggest art project in New York city’s history debuted Saturday in Central Park with the unfurling of saffron-colored fabric banners suspended in 16-foot-high frames, providing a splash of sunrise 26 years in the making.

“I came for this. It’s poetry in motion. It’s for the moment — a kind of Zen,” said Barbara Knorr, a German-speaking visitor who came from Switzerland just to see the exhibit created by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.

'A visual golden river'
“The Gates” is the pair’s first major project in New York City. It features 7,500 frames with their hanging orange-tinted fabric, creating what the artists billed as “a visual golden river” along 23 miles of footpaths in the park.

Knorr took in the sight from the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which offered a panoramic view of lines of the wind-blown banners snaking through the trees in the park below.

Mixed reviews
Everyone, it seemed, had an opinion.

“It’s art,” pronounced 8-year-old Mikaela Simon, of Shiloh, N.J., as she sketched the scene in a notebook on the museum roof.

Thea Stone said the artists “created a temple in the park; it’s become like a holy place to walk.”

A 36-year-old portfolio manager who asked not to be named said the best part was that it was privately funded. “But it’s not art. It’s just a neat, man-made thing,” he said.

A regular bicyclist and roller-blader, the portfolio manager said the Gates would not cause him much more than the usual trouble with unwary pedestrians.

Central Park bird-watchers were split on the project. “I can’t see how it will be a problem,” Rebekah Creshkoff said. But Marie Winn wrote on her Web site: “It doesn’t seem likely that the impact will be a favorable one.”

People-watching was part of the pleasure for Magen Banwart, a 35-year-old fitness instructor who worked on the project.

“The biggest thing is that this is public art, and the most unique opportunity in my life to watch other people experience public art and watch children learn public art in this city.”

The 16-day exhibit was expected to lure tens of thousands of art lovers and the merely curious to Manhattan.

It opened with cheers as Mayor Michael Bloomberg raised a hooked baton to pull a tab and release the first swatch of fabric from a sleeve at the top of a gate. A class of fourth-graders counted down the seconds.

By noon, more than 1 million square feet of fabric had been freed to flap in the stiff breeze.

26 years in the making
The work’s official title — “The Gates, Central Park, New York, 1979-2005” — refers to the artists’ conception of the project 26 years ago. The Parks Department rejected the idea in 1981. They are paying for the project themselves and estimate the cost could total as much $21 million.

“I can’t promise, particularly since this is New York, that everyone will love ’The Gates,’ but I guarantee that they will all talk about it,” Bloomberg said Friday. “And that’s really what innovative, provocative art is supposed to do.”

Christo and Jeanne-Claude were reticent to discuss their creation.

“It’s very difficult,” explained Christo. “You ask us to talk. This project is not involving talk. It’s a real, physical space. It’s not necessary to talk. You spend time, you experience the project.”

Ambitious artists
Their previous projects included “Wrapped Reichstag,” which wrapped the German parliament building in Berlin in silvery fabric in 1995, and for “The Umbrellas” of 1991, with 3,100 large umbrellas opened in valleys of California and Japan.

Whether “The Gates” is deemed art or not, the work accomplished no small feat: It nudged thousands of New Yorkers out of bed on a freezing Saturday morning.

Ali Naqui had to be dragged to the unveiling by his fiancee, but then was smiling by the time he joined the crowd. “It’s a bit insane, but that’s why everybody is here,” he said.

One New York fourth-grader had her own art critique.

“It’s a waste of money, but it’s fabulous,” said Shakana Jayson. “It brings happiness when you look at it.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report