Paris is preparing for another dramatic transformation of one of its most recognisable landmarks. Artist JR will unveil La Caverne du Pont Neuf, a temporary large-scale installation that will transform the city’s oldest bridge into an immersive cavern-like structure, paying tribute to the legacy of Christo and Jeanne-Claude and their iconic The Pont Neuf Wrapped.
Opening from 6th–28th June 2026, the project reimagines the Pont Neuf through a monumental intervention that draws inspiration from the stone quarries from which much of Paris was originally built. Rather than wrapping the bridge as Christo and Jeanne-Claude did in 1985, JR’s vision turns it into a rugged landscape-like form that sits somewhere between architecture, geology and fantasy. The project will remain open continuously and free to visitors throughout its three-week run.
JR explains:
“My vision for this project is rooted in both the past and present of this iconic bridge. I admire the legacy of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and I share their idea that the mission of art is to make us think, to question what is familiar to us. The debate that a public art project can provoke is of equal value to its realization. Art is a transformation, and a way of renewing the way we look at the world around us.”
The installation is as much an experience as an object. Visitors will physically move through the work itself, entering an interior tunnel imagined as a symbolic journey. JR describes the passage as “a step into the unknown”, balancing ideas of fullness and emptiness through an immersive spatial experience.
Adding another layer to the project is a collaboration with Thomas Bangalter, who has created a bespoke sonic environment for the work. Rather than composing traditional music, Bangalter has developed what he calls a sculptural sound material using electroacoustic elements.
Reflecting on the original wrapped bridge by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Bangalter said:
“I was 10 years old when Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the Pont Neuf. It’s one of my most vivid artistic memories… the uncompromising nature of this artwork makes it the most inspiring I have ever seen.”
Technology also enters the equation through Echoes, an augmented reality layer developed with Snap’s AR Studio Paris. Visitors will be able to access additional visual experiences through mobile devices and Spectacles, creating what JR describes as an “immersive, emotional and participatory experience.”
Behind the poetic ambition sits an extraordinary feat of engineering. The installation spans around 120 metres and uses an inflatable structure requiring 20,000 cubic metres of air and nearly 19,000 square metres of fabric. Air itself becomes the primary sculptural material, a deliberate nod to unrealised and inflatable projects conceived by Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
Emmanuel Grégoire, Mayor of Paris, added:
“More than forty years after Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the Pont Neuf, Paris’s oldest bridge is set to be transformed once again thanks to the imagination of an artist.”
Alongside the installation, Galerie Perrotin will stage Les esquisses de la Caverne, an exhibition of preparatory works and studies tracing the evolution of JR’s project.
For three weeks in June, Paris’s oldest bridge will temporarily become something entirely different — part monument, part dreamscape, and part experiment in how cities can be reimagined through art.
MORE: jr-art.net/la-caverne-du-pont-neuf
