KK Balers help Christo deconstruct his monumental sculpture in Serpentine Lake, Hyde Park
The London Mastaba was a temporary sculpture designed by world renowned artist Christo and comprised of horizontally stacked barrels on a floating platform in Serpentine Lake, Hyde Park from June 18th to September 23rd, 2018.
KK Balers supplied the installation and dismantling company Kraft E.L.S. AG Exhibition Logistics Services two KK Drum Presses to accelerate the process of compacting and removing the 7,506 barrels from the park. The artist’s team from Kraft coordinated the project and completed the task within 2 months. The KK Drum Press uses 24 tons of power, which compacted the 205 litre/45 gallon metal drums to a fraction of their size in 35 secs per barrel. With over 7000 barrels to compact these machines significantly reduced waste storage space, reduced waste disposal costs, reduced transportation costs for recyclable materials and reduced the impact on the environment.
Jerome Szeemann, of Kraft, was very pleased with the service KK Balers provided, as well as the performance of the KK Drum Presses. KK were able to act quickly to deliver and set up the machinery for the team to start the monumental deconstruction task. Jerome said, “The quick delivery of the machinery helped us get started on compacting over 7000 barrels, which were far easier to move and discard at the compacted size.”
David Jones, the KK Engineer, was responsible for the delivery, installation and training on how to use the machines. He was very impressed with the process and speed of the deconstruction team following installation, the start through to the finish of the job progressed seamlessly.
The Drum Presses were key to the timing and cost of the dismantling task, creating a streamline of compacted barrels that were taken away swiftly and promptly for recycling. All operators were fully trained to effectively and safely use the machinery.
The artist, Christo wanted this project to have a positive effect on the environmental surroundings so that during the display of the sculpture, the colours transformed in the light and the reflection on the lake became like an abstract painting. He also wanted the environment to thrive after the sculpture’s time on the lake so he is funding a range of ecological improvements including creating new habitats for wildlife as well as undertaking a deep cleaning operation to improve the lake’s quality.
