The Gasometer Oberhausen in Germany is known for holding the record as the largest disc-type gas holder in Europe. But since this former gas tank was transformed into an exhibition hall in the 1990s, it is famous for the grand works of art that reside in it; most recently: the Big Air Package. Designed and created by artist Christo, one half of the Christo-Jeanne-Claude couple, the Big Air Package is a massive inflated balloon constructed inside the Gasometer Oberhausen. It is the largest inflated envelope suspended without a skeleton and rumored to be the largest indoor sculpture in history.
photography by Wolfgang Volz photography by Wolfgang Volz
This gargantuan sculpture uses 20,350 square meters of semitransparent fabric and 4,500 meters of rope to produce a 90 meter high (295 feet) and 50 meter wide (164 feet) cylinder shaped balloon. Two fans are used to keep the package upright and pressurized with a volume of 177,000 cubic meters of air.
The package weighs 5.3 tons (5.8 U.S. tons), which is almost the weight of three and a half compact cars. The Big Air Package is on display in the Gasometer Oberhausen from March 16th to December 30th, 2013.
photography by Wolfgang Volz
The idea for the Big Air Package was dreamt up by Christo in 2010 and this is Christo’s first major work after his wife and artistic partner Jeanne-Claude passed away in 2009. Though this is not Christo’s first work inside the Gasometer; in 1999 he created “The Wall” which was a giant blockade made of 13,00 oil barrels that spanned across the diameter of the Gasometer and reached 85 feet in height. From the insider, the Big Air Package is an extraordinary use of space, light, and shape. It is a wonder to be seen and it can be viewed from Christo’s official website: www.christojeanneclaude.net.
photography by André Grossmann
