Miami Islands Turned Pink And People Reacted Differently To It

May 12, 2020

Were you able to view in person or on television news the phenomena of the Biscayne Bay Islands in Miami being wrapped in pink fabric back in the 1980s or returning in April 2019 as a Miami contemporary art museum exhibit? Details were given in “Surrounded Islands, 1980–1983” in the archives of the “Miami Herald” newspaper.

That jarred the memories of those who had witnessed the unusual happening of Bulgarian artist Christo Vladimirov Javacheff, simply known as Christo, and his 30-month project that encircled the islands with 6.5-million square feet of pink undulating plastic.

Ten of the artist’s 11 pine-covered islands in the seven-mile island chain ended up in flowing hot-pink plastic skirts and presenting a glittering spectacle in the bay. Depending on the section size, between 10 and 20 workers were needed to pull the six miles of polypropylene to the islands during the installation.

A Miami Biscayne Boulevard disco celebrated the completion of the project with a pink-balloon party for Christo, his wife, boat captains, island crew chiefs, and all the workers where the disco employees were wrapped in pink cellophane and offered pink champagne to 400 invited guests.

At a price of $33 per person, Miami businessmen offered residents, tourists, art teachers, and teachers, most with sketch pads and cameras, a choice of a 15-minute air ride, a 45-minute bus ride over the causeways close to the islands, or a 90-minute boat ride through Biscayne Bay. Thousands of other people went out in boats, cars, helicopters, and even on foot to have a glimpse of the glowing pink canvas stretching across a portion of Biscayne Bay.

It took $3.1 million, seven public hearings, 10 permits, four court appearances, and an army of 400 workers to create this over a week's time. Then it took 75 workers to pull in large sections of the pink polypropylene surrounding the two northernmost islands when the oversized water lilies began to vanish and needed to be dismantled. After unfastening the fabric from styrofoam beams that floated out 200 feet from each island, the sections were towed to shore and rolled up in bundles. At the time of the article, it wasn't clear what would happen to the fabric, but one recommendation was to donate it to an aviary. 

Environmentalists were concerned about the fabric's impact on wildlife, but the Dade County Environmental Resources Management reported that there were no problems for the plant and animal life and no change in the seagrass underneath the fabric as a result of the project. 

Do you consider this a fascinating story? Isn't it most unusual to come up with such a huge idea? Have you ever seen anything of such a large dimension that is considered art? Let us know in the comments and be sure to pass this article along to others!