CHRISTO AND JEANNE-CLAUDE’S CAMP FOLLOWERS

A far-flung group of followers of Christo and Jeanne-Claude are preparing to come to New York for the artists’ latest public project, The Gates, scheduled to open along twenty-three miles of Central Park’s pedestrian walkways on Saturday, Jennifer Steinhauer writes in the New York Times. These loyal fans plot distant vacations, organize group trips and sometimes abandon jobs to bear witness to the artists’ installations. They are like the fans that long traipsed after the Grateful Dead, but with far fewer tour dates. Groupies? Gate-heads? They resist monikers. But their ardor for the Christo and Jeanne-Claude happenings is passionate.