5,000 Years of Oil

Photo
(AFP/Eric Estrade)

 

Artist Christo, is building one of his first long term pieces in the desert of the United Arab Emerites comprised of 390,000 oil barrels stacked 492 feet high.

The project is a far cry from the ephemeral artworks for which the couple are best known, like wrapping the Berlin Reichstag and the Pont-Neuf in Paris: “According to engineers, the Mastaba could last for 5,000 years.”

Apparently Christo has had the idea to build this piece since 1977 and after aborted attempts in Texas and the Netherlands has finally found a place and funding to realize it. I am curious what the barrels are made of that would make them last 5 millennia..?

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