HE Zaki Nusseibeh, Minister of State, first met Christo in the 1970s, and they stayed in regular touch
“His genius was clear to all those who met him. He was full of ideas, full of energy,” UAE’s Minister of State tells The National.
The pioneering Bulgarian-born artist had dreams of building the world’s largest sculpture in the UAE. He died, aged 84, on Sunday May 31 at his home in New York City.
Christo was as enthusiastic about the mastaba project in his later years as he was when he first came to the UAE with his wife and collaborator, Jeanne-Claude, in 1979.
The project was envisioned as a 150-metre-high and 330-metre-wide pyramid structure, crafted out of 410,000 oil barrels painted in different shades of okra yellow. With an estimated cost of $350 million, the project was planned to be built out in the Liwa desert and become one of the most recognisable landmarks in the country.
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