Gaymer

The African American Smithsonian.

Thought Catalog

Angela Nikolau and Ivan Beerkus, the Russian rooftopping couple from the 2024 Netflix documentary "Skywalkers: A Love Story," scaled the top of the Empire State Building this morning, dressed in black with helmets and masks. Angela wore cat ears. They unfurled a black banner reading "when the power of love beats the love of power the world knows peace," a line commonly attributed to Jimi Hendrix.

They did it on the 1,454-foot antenna spire, no ropes, no harnesses, hundreds of feet above the observation deck. Angela, 33, trained in rhythmic gymnastics from age 7 and grew up in a family of circus performers. Ivan, 32, was already climbing the Eiffel Tower and Moscow skyscrapers solo before the two teamed up in 2016 on Goldin Finance 117 in Tianjin, a climb that turned them into a couple.

Angela posted a video from the narrow platform late morning, captioned "Currently at the Empire State Building." Just after 12:30 p.m., they climbed down to a wider metal ledge, where Ivan dropped to a knee and pulled out a ring while the city looked up. They kissed on the summit. Around 1:00 p.m., they posted photos and videos to Instagram and Facebook identifying themselves as the climbers.

News helicopters caught the clearest footage. The couple has lived in New York since the documentary came out, which followed their 2022 climb of the 2,200-foot Merdeka 118 spire in Malaysia and the fights and total dependence that came with it. Angela calls the work performance art: "rooftopping is my art form, a ritual where fear becomes part of the art."

They've been at this for years and have the arrest record to prove it. They were previously picked up climbing Notre Dame, investigated after Merdeka 118, and have hidden from security and construction crews for more than 30 hours at a stretch to pull a climb off. Fame from the Netflix film has made it harder. They're recognized on sight now and banned from some European sites, and they keep going anyway.