The opening of La Caverne du Pont Neuf, an inflatable cave-like installation by French street artist JR in Paris, has been delayed after strong winds ripped through its exterior.
JR’s transformation of Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris, was due to open to the public for three weeks on 3 June.
However, its opening has been postponed indefinitely after its 18-metre-high summit ripped open, following heavy rain and winds in the French capital.
“We’re not giving up”
In a series of videos circulating online, the installation’s mountainous shell can be seen ripped open, fluttering in the wind.
The new opening date has not been announced, with JR’s team currently focused on carrying out repairs to the outer fabric and its inflatable envelope as quickly as possible.
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La Caverne du Pont Neuf’s opening has been delayed due to wind damage
“None of us have slept much, but we’re not giving up,” a member of JR’s team told French newspaper Le Monde on Wednesday.
Since then, his team has issued a statement confirming the cause of the damage.
“The assessment determined the cause was an exceptional weather event,” it said in the statement released yesterday afternoon.
“Strong wind gusts struck while work was taking place on the outer layer of fabric, causing tears at the edges. Following this incident, a full inspection of the structure revealed that the tearing of the fabric caused localized damage in three locations on the inflatable envelope.”
JR designed La Caverne du Pont Neuf as a homage to the work of artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude – specifically an iconic installation in which the duo cloaked the same bridge in fabric 41 years ago.
Installation aims to “renew the way we look at the world”
La Caverne du Pont Neuf’s inflatable fabric structure has a rock-like form, printed with a pattern in shades of white, black and grey. Its fabric is secured by straps.
According to JR, the installation was designed to evoke quarries in the Paris Basin, from which Paris stone was extracted to create Pont Neuf and other buildings in the city.
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Its new opening date is yet to be announced
Last month, when the first images of the bridge were revealed, JR said his “vision for this project is rooted in both the past and present of this iconic bridge”.
“I admire the legacy of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and I share their idea that the mission of art is to make us think, to question what is familiar to us,” he explained. “The debate that a public art project can provoke is of equal value to its realization.”
“Art is a transformation, and a way of renewing the way we look at the world around us. Through the dream of La Caverne du Pont Neuf, this is what I hope to make possible in Paris,” he added.
The part of the project which has yet to be revealed is its cave-like interior. There will be an inner tunnel through the structure, and a background soundtrack developed by musician Thomas Bangalter – one-half of the music duo Daft Punk.
La Caverne du Pont Neuf is not the first Parisian installation by JR to have been damaged. In 2019, he encircled the Louvre with a giant 3D optical illusion that imagined the iconic pyramid continuing underground, but it was left in shreds after a day of visitors traipsing across it.
Other iconic installations by Christo and Jeanne-Claude include Wrapped Coast, a fabric installation cloaking 1.5 miles of Australian coastline in 1969, which was among those in our roundup of key projects by the duo.
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