Bulgarian artist Christo unveils Lake Iseo catwalks

Brescia, June 16 - Bulgarian artist Christo on Thursday officially presented "The Floating Piers" art installation, a 4.5-kilometre series of catwalks on Lake Iseo in northern Italy. The artwork, which will be open to the public from June 18 through July 3, connects the town of Sulzano on the edge of the lake, to the Monte Isola and San Paolo islands in the middle of it. To finance the construction of the catwalk, supported by floating pontoons formed by 200,000 high-density polyethylene cubes, "we used our own money, not from the banks or anyone else. Money that comes from the sale of original artworks made with my hands," the artist reaffirmed in a news conference. Initial projections estimate that the installation will bring 49 million euros in revenue to Lake Iseo, nearly three million euros a day, during its run. Christo described himself on Thursday as "a very physical person. I don't use a mobile, and I don't like the virtual world either. You shouldn't look at the catwalk in photos, you need to walk on it," he said. Members of the press were invited to walk on the catwalk, which is receiving its finishing touch, 70,000 metres of iridescent orange-yellow fabric chosen as a covering. "The artwork is not the fabric, the fabric is the material of the artwork. The artwork is also the water, the houses of Monte Isola. All of this is the artwork," he said.