The "BEAN" - A Chicago size drop of liquid mercury - Chicago, IL

When my wife and I visited Chicago a few years back we went exploring on foot like we always do and covered many miles in the concrete jungle. Chicago is an incredible city with it’s un-matched skyline, the Chicago river with all of it’s bridges, Navy Pier, Natural History Museum and too many other attractions to mention here.
As we walked the streets we marveled at the architecture of the John Hancock Center, Marina City, The Wrigley Building and the Sears Tower (Willis Tower now but I prefer the old name). 
After strolling down the Magnificent Mile we stumbled upon one of the most peculiar things I have seen anywhere and that is “Cloud Gate” in Millennium Park or what locals refer to as “THE BEAN”. It was a bright and sunny Chicago day and this was quite possibly one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life but then again, I am fascinated by shiny things. The Bean is huge!! It weighs 110 Tons and is 66 feet long and 33 feet high. It is made of highly polished stainless steel and was inspired by liquid mercury. It’s mirror surface reflects the magnificent skyscrapers along Randolph Street beautifully, namely the sawed off Smurfit-Stone Building, 995 foot “Two Prudential Place” and the 1,136 foot white tower which is the Aon Center. We stood there and stared in awe at the Bean which distorted our shapes as we walked closer to it. It made me want to pick it up and put it in my pocket and take it home just like when I was a kid and found something shiny. “The BEAN” was created by British artist Anish Kapoor and it was completed in 2005. Mr. Kapoor describes his intent of this piece of art “What I wanted to do in Millennium Park is make something that would engage the Chicago skyline…so that one will see the clouds kind of floating in, with those very tall buildings reflected in the work. And then, since it is in the form of a gate, the participant, the viewer, will be able to enter into this very deep chamber that does, in a way, the same thing to one’s reflection as the exterior of the piece is doing to the reflection of the city around.” -Anish Kapoor
 In the humble opinion of this traveler, Mr. Kapoor hit his mark dead center with this effort. If you go to Chicago you will find the shiny BEAN in Millennium Park just east of Michigan Ave and south of Randolph Street. It is one of many cool and interesting things to see in Chicagoland.

Jaromy D. Jessop

"THE BEAN" looking in the direction of Michigan Ave - Chicago, Illinois


AON Center, other skyscrapers, clouds and people reflected in "THE BEAN" just as Anish Kapoor intended

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