Abu Dhabi: Artist impressions of the largest sculpture in the world, Mastaba, planned to be built in Abu Dhabi Emirate, was unveiled at the US embassy here on Sunday evening.
An exhibition of drawings of the Mastaba was inaugurated by Madeleine Albright, former US Secretary of State, and Barbara A Leaf, US Ambassador to the UAE, in presence of the artist, Christo Vladimirov Javacheff.
Mastaba, designed by Christo and the late Jeanne-Claude Marie Denat, is a pyramid like structure which is planned to be located in the desert in Al Gharbia (the Western Region) approximately 160 kilometres south of the city of Abu Dhabi, near Liwa.
A number of guests, including UAE officials, artists and members of the business community gathered at the unveiling event of the pieces, which are on long-term loan to the embassy.
Albright and Leaf praised the UAE-US long term friendship and thanked Christo and his late partner for their contribution.
“What a good friend and partner Emiratis are to the United States,” said Albright in her speech.
“What makes it great is that it is a celebration of the UAE and it will remain here,” she said referring to the planned structure.
Albright told the audience that she had visited the planned location near Liwa with Christo and “had never had as much fun as in the last few days.”
Speaking to Gulf News, Albright said, “I am very glad to be here … it was wonderful to go out in the desert and spend time with Christo and have him explain the importance of the Mastaba to the whole area.”
“I hope very much that this [Mastaba] will begin and happen because I think it will be very important. There are many reasons to come here (Abu Dhabi) but I think it will really be more of a tourist attraction and have people recognise the central aspect of Abu Dhabi and the region. The Mastaba is basically a historic shape and to have it here and to have it in the setting of the desert it will also create jobs and I think it can be a very vibrant part of the Expo,” she added.
Speaking with Gulf News, Leaf explained the reasons behind the US embassy hosting the cultural event.
“This is part of one of the most important things that we do, which is cultural diplomacy, and we have a programme already in the embassies which brings together a very robust and dynamic partnership between US embassies and missions around the world and artists and galleries and cultural institutions,” she said.
“So here we have an iconic American artist and we have an iconic foreign policy figure and she is here doing cultural diplomacy, and we want to be a platform for that, and we think the Mastaba piece that Christo has unveiled is a spectacular reflection of his own brilliance and something that he cares passionately about in relation to the UAE,” added Leaf.
Speaking about possible future cultural projects she said, “I am looking to do more of these projects because frankly its not all about politics, diplomacy, military, it’s also about the cultural people-people aspect of our relationship.”
Sculpture is the size of Vatican Square
The Mastaba that was originally conceived in 1979, once completed will be 150 metres high, 225 metres deep at the 60 degrees slanted walls and 300 meters wide at the vertical walls. It will be approximately the size of the Vatican Square in Italy.
Previous Christo projects have had significant financial impacts for the hosts. The Gates in New York and Wrapped Reichstag in Germany both had million of visitors.
