{"id":379784,"date":"2026-10-22T15:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/379784\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T15:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T15:36:14","slug":"jr-brings-making-of-la-caverne-du-pont-neuf-to-perrotin-in-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/379784\/","title":{"rendered":"JR Brings Making of ‘La Caverne du Pont Neuf’ to Perrotin in New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFor a fleeting moment this past summer, JR<\/a> gave people a reason to pause. He created a mountain in the middle of Paris<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe French artist transformed Paris<\/a>\u2019 oldest standing bridge into \u201cLa Caverne du Pont Neuf,\u201d an immersive mountainscape constructed of inflated canvas arches. The piece, on view for a few weeks in June and the largest public installation of JR\u2019s career, was an homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude\u2019s monumental 1985 work \u201cThe Pont Neuf Wrapped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen it appeared in Paris overnight, it stopped the city. It had the ability to stop time,\u201d says JR, describing the installation\u2019s scale and presence. \u201cPeople would stop and look and take a photo and try to understand what they\u2019re looking at. What in our life makes us stop from the crazy nonstop of things?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tInside the illusory structure, visitors could walk through a cavelike interior, which included a soundscape by Daft Punk\u2019s Thomas Bangalter, earthy olfactory experience, and an augmented reality component.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"La<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cLa Caverne du Pont Neuf,\u201d June 16, 2026, 20h37, Triptyque, Paris, 2026.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtsey<\/p>\n

\n\tJR has leaned into the symbolism of caves in recent installations, bringing rocky trompe-l\u2019oeils to distinctive landmarks that include the Palais Garnier and Milano Centrale railway station. Like those earlier works, \u201cLa Caverne\u201d taps into Plato\u2019s Allegory of the Cave and exploration of reality versus perception. JR drops in the idea of \u201cPicnolepsy,\u201d a term coined by Paul Virilio to describe the state of momentary absences from reality, and likens it to a familiar activity: doomscrolling.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re scrolling, but we\u2019re not even looking at what we\u2019re scrolling. We\u2019re just zoned out, and so we disconnect from the outside world,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd you need to get out of these states. You need something that\u2019s bigger than life to make you disconnect from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn early September, the artist and photographer is back in his Paris studio after taking the month of August off for its annual summer closure. It\u2019s late afternoon, but inside his cavernous work space \u2014 which features zinc plates from Parisian rooftops overhead \u2014 you could be tricked into thinking it was anytime of day or year.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u200aThere\u2019s not even an outside window in this office. It helps me to focus,\u201d says the artist, donning his signature black sunglasses and appearing relaxed and unhurried after his time away. \u201cAfter the bridge, I was kind of exhausted. I really needed a break,\u201d he adds. \u201cI couldn\u2019t have handled another day, you know? It was really one of those things where I pushed too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"JR<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJR<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclaire dorn\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n

\n\tA few days before the public opening of \u201cLa Caverne,\u201d the piece was damaged by severe wind and rain. A disaster, but his team was able to repair the damage and opened the installation almost two weeks later. The setback has since become an integral part of the piece\u2019s legacy.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u200aI realized a bit during the project, but even more now, how much people lived with this piece and with the story of this piece \u2014 not just the piece itself,\u201d JR says. \u201cThat crazy storm became part of the narrative. When people mention the piece to me today, they always mention the storm.\u201d It drove home the undercurrent of fragility inherent to any artwork, particularly one exposed to the elements in a public space.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFrom far it\u2019s the strongest mountain, indestructible. But if you come close, you realize it\u2019s just fabric and air, and it\u2019s very light. And that\u2019s the beauty of it,\u201d he says of the illusion of his piece. \u201cWhen it got damaged by the storm I was like, \u2018Oh my god. The fragility is really there.\u2019 Who knows if it\u2019s gonna hold for another two weeks?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe damage also highlighted the link between JR\u2019s installation and Christo and Jeanne-Claude\u2019s body of environmental works, which confronted the persistent threat of nature.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen I spoke more with Christo\u2019s family and their nephew, Vladimir, he said that on every project they had a storm of some kind. Working in public space makes you have zero control on the environment, and you gotta live with that,\u201d says JR, adding that although he\u2019s run into weather issues across his various public projects, it\u2019s \u201cnever to that scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe incident led to another unexpected synergy: \u201cLa Caverne\u201d ended up being open to the public for only 14 days, the same duration of many of Christo and Jeanne-Claude\u2019s projects, including \u201cThe Pont Neuf Wrapped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAt the end, it brought it back to exactly the duration it should be,\u201d JR says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of weird strange connections like that, that only made sense after.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe threat \u2014 and consequence \u2014 of force majeure was top of mind heading into his next public installation, at the Vatican Apostolic Library in Rome. JR is one of three creatives who contributed to \u201cAQCA,\u201d the first chapter of the library\u2019s five-year exhibition cycle \u201cCatastrophe and Wonder,\u201d inaugurated on Sept. 14 by Pope Leo XIV. While the interior exhibitions are available to the public by reservation, only JR\u2019s exterior contribution, \u201cDiluvium,\u201d installed on the building\u2019s facade, is openly visible and accessible.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Diluvium,<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cDiluvium,\u201d Sept. 12, 2026, 07h18, Vatican, 2026 (c) JR<\/p>\n

\n\tThe piece, a giant cresting wave, was inspired by 19th-century artist Gustave Dor\u00e9\u2019s engraving depicting the biblical flood from Noah\u2019s Ark. JR stripped away the figures from the illustration, leaving only the water. \u201cIt\u2019s like the wave taking over the building,\u201d he says, describing the affect. \u201cLike it\u2019s gonna swipe it away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cDiluvium\u201d confronts the threat of loss, the omnipresent fear of losing the documents, archives and books that have been entrusted to the Vatican Library for safekeeping from manmade conflict and natural disasters throughout the years. While biblical in context, the piece also speaks to contemporary anxiety.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis wave also reminds us of what\u2019s happening in the world right now with climate change, and how we won\u2019t be able to save everything,\u201d JR says. \u201cAnd so what do you keep?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Diluvium,<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cDiluvium,\u201d Vatican, 2026 (c) JR<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile many of JR\u2019s works are ephemeral in nature, the process of creation and documentation yields artifacts that persist beyond the brief physical iteration of his installations.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis fall, JR is bringing the essence of \u201cLa Caverne\u201d to New York. \u201cLes esquisses de la Caverne,\u201d a solo exhibition that highlighted JR\u2019s sketches for the bridge design, ran concurrently this summer at Perrotin in Paris. An expanded version, \u201cIn the Making: La Caverne du Pont Neuf,\u201d will travel to the gallery\u2019s New York location Oct. 28 through Dec. 19, and feature the addition of new photography of the completed bridge installation.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the Paris Tourist Office estimates 6.4 million people saw \u201cLa Caverne\u201d in-person, the project reached far beyond Paris thanks in part to social media. \u201cA lot of people have never seen the physicality of it,\u201d JR says. \u201cAnd those artworks are the only trace that brings you the closest to the physicality of it. They carry the energy and the emotion of the bridge \u2014 but for eternity, and I love that they\u2019ll travel through generations. The same way I go places and I see Christo\u2019s and Jeanne-Claude\u2019s work [related to their installations], and I can feel the energy they put into that artwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"La<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cLa Caverne du Pont Neuf, Esquisse #18,\u201d 2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Perrotin\/Photo by Claire Dorn<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"fine<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\u201cLa Caverne du Pont Neuf, Esquisse #38,\u201d 2026<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Perrotin\/Photo by Claire Dorn<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd, thinking about another one of Christo and Jeanne-Claude\u2019s most significant works \u2014 \u201cThe Gates\u201d in Central Park in 2005 \u2014 has JR mulling the potential of following suit in New York, his home outside of Paris.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI would love to do a big thing in New York,\u201d he says. \u201cIt won\u2019t be a bridge, it would be something else. But it will be the same energy as the bridge, of gathering people, doing something bigger than life, fighting with the elements. Because that\u2019s always part of the recipe. There\u2019s no avoiding that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite the setbacks and difficulty of \u201cLa Caverne,\u201d JR was deliberate about enjoying the totality of the experience. He was onsite for much of the installation\u2019s duration, casually interacting with visitors and documenting the work.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPeople associated with me were like, \u2018Yeah, you just get to the bridge, you\u2019ll find JR,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI never missed one day. I was there all the time. It took me a lot of energy, and I feel those drawings and those photographs are the essence of that, because I was there every day photographing. Each time I would see the sky changing or whatever, I ran with my bag in another location. People saw me climbing lamp posts to try to be higher to take a photo, or climbing roofs. I would always try to search for a better angle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn the last day of the installation, after the closing night party, JR biked away from the bridge, well aware that he would never see the mountain in its current iteration ever again. \u201cAnd when I came back, there was no trace left,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\n\tToday, the bridge is back to how it always was: a piece of utilitarian infrastructure, now with even more history.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI biked on it just yesterday, and there\u2019s no trace whatsoever. You could almost question, did this really happen?\u201d JR says. \u201cAt some point it\u2019s like a myth; it\u2019s a legend: \u2018There was a mountain on that bridge.\u2019 Until you see the image, it\u2019s something you can barely believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"fine<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJR. Photographed and edited by Claire Dorn<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclaire dorn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For a fleeting moment this past summer, JR gave people a reason to pause. He created a mountain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1149,9,11,10,1163,17603,94845,87494],"class_list":["post-379784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-art","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-paris","tag-wwd-weekend","tag-wwd-weekend-culture","tag-wwd-weekend-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}