Christo fills former natural gas tank in Germany

[March 16, 2013]  OBERHAUSEN, Germany (AP) -- Artist Christo has unveiled his latest spectacular creation: a balloonlike installation that fills the inside of a former natural gas storage tank in Germany's industrial Ruhr region.

Christo's "Big Air Package," an inflatable envelope made of translucent white polyester, rises 295 feet (90 meters) from the floor of the Gasometer in Oberhausen. It will be open to the public from Saturday through Dec. 30.

Christo's structure is kept upright by air fans. Visitors enter through airlocks. Christo says the effect is to leave visitors "virtually swimming in light."

The tank was converted into an exhibition hall after being taken out of service in 1988.

Christo and his late wife, Jeanne-Claude, in 1999 exhibited a wall made of 13,000 colored oil barrels at the Gasometer.

[Associated Press]

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