Lost ‘cloud’ of artist who wrapped the Reichstag to be created in UK gallery | Christo

Christo once wrapped the Reichstag, hung a curtain over the Colorado valley and covered the Pont Neuf in Paris. Now, six years after the artist’s death, a gallery in London will create a monumental installation he designed in 1968, using detailed scale models and drawings that were thought to have been lost until a chance discovery.

Christo had envisioned a large, internally lit suspended form like a cloud, but technical limitations meant the plan was never realized.

The Ceiling Air Package was designed for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. Now in its first realization, the Gagosian, in collaboration with the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation, will fill a major exhibition space in London.

The piece will be 16 meters long and 10 meters wide, reaching just above head height and filling the entire volume of the space.

“The structure, both architectural and atmospheric, compels visitors to move under and around it,” said Serena Cattaneo Adorno, a senior manager at Gagosian.

He added: “This exhibition brings to life a work that has existed for decades only as an idea. The packaging movement is one of the most radical aspects of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s practice; here it is applied to air and architectural surface; it is a distillation of their thought into its purest form.”

The original plans were discovered by Lorenza Giovanelli, who joined Christo’s team as studio manager in 2017. While creating more space in the crowded studio, he moved a large plinth and suddenly noticed an empty box. To his amazement, it included a detailed scale model of the Air Package in the Ceiling, emulated by a gallery mock-up, complete with electrical wiring to convey the work’s lighting elements.

His discovery in 2018 was never disclosed, and Christo died in 2020. He remembered his excitement because he had long forgotten to put it on a pedestal and had moved on to other work. “It’s in great shape because it’s never seen sunlight. There wasn’t even any dust… It’s been hidden for 50 years.”

He said: “It will look like a beautiful cloud hanging from the ceiling of the gallery space, lit from within… It will be so magical… I have dreamed about it many times, so I really can’t wait to see it.

“I believe people will find it truly extremely beautiful.”

Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude are known for their monumental, temporary public art works that transform landscapes using everyday materials. His projects were so complex that they required years of planning, but existed only for a short time before being dismantled and recycled.

In the 1960s, Christo discovered the concept of wrapping air in transparent polyethylene packages tied with string. It was a precursor to the work to be done later on an environmental scale.

The Gagosian exhibition will include various “invisible, abstract and important” works on the theme of air. Giovanelli said of the artist: “He was full of ideas, full of energy, full of life… He was never too worried about people not understanding his work. He was happy that people were curious to see it one way or another. He always said that the most important thing in life is to be curious.”

Christo’s nephew, Vladimir Yavachev, who worked closely with the artist throughout his life, said of the plans for the Ceiling Air Package: “These are very precise drawings… and the scale model has all the information… You can look at every detail. It’s there.”

He added that they would recreate Christo’s vision, just like those drawings.

• The exhibition runs from 21 May to 21 August at Gagosian London. Grosvenor HillW1