http://www.kulturbox.de/christo/vparla/english/ (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
The wrapping of the Reichstag by the action artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude is a political event. Together with their team, the artists have been trying since 1972 to carry out their Wrapped Reichstag project. The German parliament's decision of 25th February 1994 finally gave the go-ahead. The long road from the initial idea to the project's completion is an object lesson in how art and politics relate.
Christo's and Jeanne-Claude's Wrapped Reichstag project is a public art event, a part of which is undeniably the public debate about the meaning and purpose of their work. However, the project also represents an occasion to meditate on the history of German parliamentary democracy and the meaning of political symbols for German identity.
It wasn't coincidental that Christo and Jeanne-Claude didn't receive positive signals for their plans until after 1989. The question of wrapping the Reichstag has been on the agenda of discussions about the capital ever since reunification and combines a look back to the history of democracy in Germany with a look forward to the future development of a reunited Germany - a development which will be followed with particularly avid attention abroad.
At this point, we have created the Virtual Parliament to recall the debate of the German parliament on the wrapping of the Reichstag and to carry it further alongside the actual wrapping. Our Virtual Parliament composes of two parts:
