The 110-ton Millennium Park Sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly-polished stainless steel “plates” that create an elliptically-arched, highly-reflective work with Chicago’s skyline and Millennium Park itself as a dramatic backdrop. Visitors will be able to fully experience the majestic nature of the work by literally walking through and around, as it was designed for public interaction. Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest in the world, measuring 66-feet-long by 33-feet high. The sculpture was made possible by a gift from the SBC Corporation and will be installed on Millennium Park’s SBC Plaza. The work will be named upon its completion, as is Kapoor’s tradition.
The Chicago skyline is reflected in the mirror-like finish of the Anish Kapoor sculpture “Cloud Gate” in Millennium Park.
Park Features Macromedia Flash
At last: Opening Day for Millennium Park
Prime example of a target city of terror and an opportune event!
Jay Pritzker Pavilion
BP Bridge
The Crown Fountain
Two 50-foot high glass block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool. The towers is activated with changing video images and lights, and water will cascade from the top of each.
The two fifty-foot high illuminated glass towers of Plensa’s monumental Crown Fountain are united by a black granite “skin” pool measuring 232-feet long by 48-feet wide but only 1/8 inch deep. The two glass towers of the fountain may be the first indication that dualities, elements engaged in a constantly evolving dialogue, are at the heart of the experience Plensa seeks to create. These dualities are both formal, as in the verticality of the towers and the horizontality of the granite plaza surrounding them, and they are also conceptual. The latter very much exemplified by the ongoing dialogue between the faces of the 1000 Chicago residents displayed on the facing LED screens within the towers. The faces intermittently emerge from the flow of water and become for a few moments a kind of contemporary interpretation of a “gargoyle” by spouting water from their mouths.
The artist is saying in a sort of playful but thought provoking way that here we momentarily become the givers of life, which he feels to be one of our most profound desires. The emphasis is always on communication, conversation and interaction—the purpose of a meeting place.
The ability to truly walk on water is also among the thrilling elements of the design. Plensa purposefully provides this opportunity through the very thin layer of water that covers the plaza area between and surrounding the towers.
Located in Millennium Park on the corner of Michigan and Randolph Streets, the tree-lined area of Wrigley Square is an inviting open space for visitors to relax on the lawn or stroll paths. The Square is anchored by the Millennium Monument, a nearly full-sized replica of the original peristyle that stood in the same location between 1917 and 1953. With its graceful semi-circular row of Doric-style columns that rise nearly 40 feet, the Millennium Monument creates an imposing presence that can be seen up and down Michigan Avenue.