THE ART OF BLUE ON A GRAND SCALE

Two artists, Christo & Daan Roosegaarde, each recently created magnificent installation art works, built around deep blue water. The Floating Piers, at Lake Iseo, Italy, and Waterlicht, in the Netherlands, each amplify the magnificence of the color blue.

DAAN ROOSEGAARDE -- WATERLICHT

Waterlicht is a predominately blue lighting installation by Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde of Studio Roosegaarde. It is known as “the Northern light of the Netherlands.”

Blue LEDs create the impression of water in places where the water is kept out by dykes. Waving lines of light spread across 1.6 hectares, conjuring the aurora borealis above a flood channel of the Netherlands' River IJssel, like a "virtual flood."

The LEDs are projected through lenses to focus the light around the site perimeter with beams criss-crossing in midair as they slowly move up and down.

Roosegaarde’s blue Waterlicht was created in partnership with Dutch water board Rhine and IJssel to raise awareness about rising sea levels, given that the sub-level Netherlands will sustain more damage than most.

With Waterlicht, you can experience what the Netherlands might be like without its dykes.

Another Roosegaarde blue light-based installations, an illuminated bike path, based on Vincent van Gogh's painting, “The Starry Night,” was a little slice of heaven for Amsterdam's Centraal Station last year.

CHRISTO -- FLOATING PIERS

One of the best ways to appreciate the beauty of blue is to view it next to the color orange or yellow.

Iconic artist Christo has long had a penchant for the complimentary hues.

In his latest work, “The Floating Piers,” Christo created a set of orange piers that connected an island in the middle of Italy’s deep blue Lake Iseo, using 100,000 square meters of shimmering orange-yellow fabric.

The piers are effectively a modular floating dock system, made up of 220,000 high-density polyethylene cubes, that move as the currents do.

Lake Iseo is the 4th largest lake in Lombardy, fed by the Oglio river. It sits about 100 km east of Milan and 200 km west of Venice.

Visitors recently came to experience this work of art, walking on it from Sulzano to Monte Isola and to the island of San Paolo. One pier is 3 km, 16m wide and 35cm high with sloping sides. Walking on the orange pier felt like walking blue water.

The orange fabric continued along 2.5 km of pedestrian streets in Sulzano and Peschiera Maraglio.

Another way to see it was from the top of one of the mountains that surround the lake, where the stunning blue sparkles as it laps the side the the mammoth pier.

“The Floating Piers” was first conceived by Christo and his partner Jeanne-Claude in 1970. But it was never realized until now. It is Christo’s first large-scale project since their famous installation “The Gates,” in 2005.

“The Floating Piers” was funded entirely through the sale of Christo’s original works of art.

After the 16-day exhibition was over, all components were removed and recycled. For more information about Christo and Jeanne-Claude, please visit the artist's' official website.

Read more about Beautiful Blue in Beautiful Blue Inspirations Now, A Whole New Beautiful Blue and Eat Drink True Blue.

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact Daily Fix posts.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: by Daan Roosegaarde, of Studio Roosegaarde. “Waterlicht.”
2. Image: by Daan Roosegaarde, of Studio Roosegaarde. “Waterlicht.”
3. Image: by Daan Roosegaarde, of Studio Roosegaarde. “Waterlicht.”
4. Image: by Studio Roosegaarde. “Waterlicht Museumplein Amsterdam” by Daan Roosegaarde.
5. Image: by Daan Roosegaarde, of Studio Roosegaarde. “Waterlicht.”
6. Image: by Daan Roosegaarde, of Studio Roosegaarde. “Glowing Van Gogh-Roosegaarde Bicycle Path in Netherlands.”
7. Image: by M S. “Swans on The Lake & Christo.”
8. Image: by M S. “The Walkways.”
9. Image: Courtesy of Teletutto Brescia. Still from Webcam Monte Isola - “The Floating Piers.”
10. Image: by Davide Zampatti. “The Floating Piers.”
11. Image: by Ivan Zanotti Photo. “Exodus. The Floating Piers,” by Christo & Jeanne-Claude.
12. Image: by  M S. “Corner of a Pier from Monte Isola.”
13. Image: by Adriano Castrale. "The Floating Piers" sul Lago d'Iseo.
14. Image: by * Ivan Zanotti Photo *. “The Floating Piers - Christo and Jeanne-Claude.” Verso Monte Isola.
15. Image: by Daan Roosegaarde, of Studio Roosegaarde. “Waterlicht.”
16. Image: by BN App - Download now!
17. Image: by Daan Roosegaarde, of Studio Roosegaarde. “Waterlicht.”