CLIENT: ChrISTO & JEANNE-CLAUDE FOUNDATION

The Gates 20th Augmented Reality

SERVICES

Creative Direction
Strategy & Planning
Experience Design

BRIEF

In 2005, The Gates by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude transformed Central Park, drawing over four million visitors over its 16 days on display. This groundbreaking project, which spanned 23 miles of paths in the park, inspired and revived a city that had been impacted by the tragedy of 9/11 and sparked a global conversation about the power of public art.

February 12, 2025 marks the 20th Anniversary of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s The Gates in Central Park — Dirt Empire is honored to have played a lead creative role in designing two unique AR projects in conjunction with the retrospective exhibit at The Shed: The Gates and Unrealized Projects for New York City. 

The Gates Augmented Reality Experience is a virtual re-creation of the Gates that can be viewed on select walkways of Central Park starting at E 72nd and 5th Ave.  The AR experience is available for free through Bloomberg Connects app and was co-created with immersive engineering studio SUPERBRIGHT.

The Gates Interactive Map at The Shed allows visitors to explore the full scope of The Gates with a tabletop interactive AR map built in collaboration with studio Pixels Pixels as part of the exhibition: Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Gates and Unrealized Projects for New York City.

The experience consists of an 18 foot tabletop map and iPads with custom software that gives viewers an interactive birds-eye view above Central Park and see where all of the Gates were installed and unlock archival artworks, photos, and 360 panoramas of the original installation by photographer Sam Rohn.

PRESS

Artnet ⭢ Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Iconic Public Artwork Gets an A.R. Revival, February 11, 2024 - Adam Schrader
Local News ⭢ 'The Gates' return to NYC's Central Park 20 years later, but in a new form, February 11, 2025 - Zinnia Maldonado
Town & Country ⭢ The Gates Returns—On Your Phone  – ERIC MAZA, February 3, 2025
Central Park - "The Gates" Augmented Reality Experience and Exhibition", Feb 12, 2025
Bloomberg Philantropies ⭢ The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation, together with The Shed, Central Park Conservancy, NYC Parks, and Bloomberg Philanthropies, Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of The Gates, November 21, 2024
centralpark.com⭢ The Gates: A Triumphant Celebration of Central Park, Adorning the Landscape of Central Park with a Landmark Art Installation, Jan 17, 2025 - Hong Vu
The Shed ⭢ Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Gates and Unrealized Projects for New York City: An exhibition celebrating the acclaimed artists and their commitment to public art, FEB 12 – MAR 23, 2025
Christo and Jeanne-Claude⭢The Gates: 20th Anniversary, November 21, 2024
The New York Times ⭢ Rain, Finally. But We Need a Lot More, November 21, 2024 - James Barron
Designboom ⭢ NYC to celebrate 20th anniversary of christo & jeanne-claude's 'the gates' at the shed, December 31, 2024 - Kat Barandy

Image Left: Christo and Jeanne-Claude, The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979-2005, Photo: Wolfgang Volz|
Image Right: Christo in his studio working on preparatory drawing for The Gates, New York City, December 30, 2004, Photo: Wolfgang Volz

The PROCESS

Dirt Empire's goal was to honor the original vision of the project from both an art historical accuracy perspective as well as within the constraints of augmented reality. Since we couldn’t build them again as per Christo's request we had to find a technological solution for bringing them back to life.

The aim of the Central Park experience and the immersive design was to give people a sensory, life-scale experience closest to the original Gates. That meant bringing viewers back to Central Park and placing them under virtual gates along curated pathways and allowing people to walk through and around them again.

The AR experience that is accompanying the retrospective exhibit was to give people a bird’s-eye view of all of the gates at scale to understand the breadth of their placement in the park. As well as to showcase the spectacular 360 photographs by Sam Rohn that were taken on site during the original event. We also thought that it would be a great opportunity to show off the scope of the renderings that Christo coneptualized from all the different vantage points in the park that later went on to fund the project.

 The Gates Augmented Reality, Central Park, New York,  2025

Exhibition Photo of " Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Gates and Unrealized Projects for New York City", The Shed, 2025

Christo and Jeanne-Claude
The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979-2005
Photo: Wolfgang Volz

Connect with Dirt Empire

⟶ info@dirtempire.tv

INSTAGRAM   
LINKEDIN

@2023 Dirt Empire