JR transforms Paris’s oldest bridge into an overground cave

With the Eiffel Tower to one side and Notre Dame to the other, Pont Neuf — Paris’s oldest bridge despite its name — has been turned into an overground cave. Vast swathes of fabric, woven to resemble the stone of the city and inflated over the span, create an installation called La Caverne, a direct tribute to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Pont Neuf wrap more than 40 years ago.

It is billed as an immersive experience, "a crossing", a "move into the unknown", meant to evoke primeval fears of darkness and being trapped underground. The printed fabric forms a rocky passage with pillars and fissures modelled on Lutetian limestone, the same stone used to build the Pont Neuf, Notre Dame and the Louvre.

The subterranean ambience is heightened by sound and smell: Thomas Bangalter created an undulating wind-tunnel effect, while a perfumer produced the barely perceptible mustiness of damp soil and rock. The technically challenging installation measures 120m long and 18m high.

France, Paris

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