He was active in Paris in the 1950s and in New York from 1964. He is known for his "packages": structures, such as bridges and buildings, and even areas of coastline, temporarily wrapped in synthetic fabric tied down with rope. The Running Fence 1976 installed across several miles of open country in California was a typically ephemeral work. In 1991 he mounted a simultaneous project, The Umbrellas, in which a series of enormous umbrellas were erected across valleys in both the USA and Japan. In his Wrapped Reichstag June-July 1995, the German former government building was temporarily wrapped in 93,000 sq m/1 million sq ft of silver fabric secured by 15,500 m/49,000 ft of blue rope. The project had won government approval Feb 1994 after a 20-year campaign by the artist.
