Also known as: The Electric Kidney Bean Also known as: The Bean Built: 2003-2004 Cost: $23,000,000 Designed by: Anish Kapoor Type: Monument Maximum Height: 33 feet / 10 meters Maximum width: 42 feet Maximum length: 66 feet Location: Michigan Avenue at Randolph, Chicago, United States
O ne of the most unique and interesting sculptures in decades graces the promenade at Chicago's Millennium Park. With "Cloud Gate" sculptor Anish Kapoor has created a work of art that holds something for everyone. It reflects the splendor that is the Chicago skyline. It plays tricks with the light and the sky. It is massive, giving it weight and importance. It is elegant -- balanced on its ends and without any color of its own. And finally, it is interactive, and lets the viewer become part of the art or stand back and let the simple act of walking, turning, or even just swaying change the visual presented by the sculpture. When it was unveiled in July of 2004, it was derided by some as unimaginative. Some branded it "The Electric Kidney Bean." That "bean" nickname stuck, and the public quickly changed its meaning from pejorative to loving. In the weeks following its unveiling, throngs of tourists and locals were drawn to its magical presence. Even if some television news anchors chose to dismiss it before they had even seen it in person, the public loves "the bean" and embraces it as a new symbol of Chicago.
Kapoor calls his creation "Cloud Gate" because 80 percent of its surface reflects the sky. He might as well have called it "Public Spectacle" because that's precisely what it's become, and what its viewers unwittingly become. Because of the way it bulges and looms over the viewer, people making faces in the stainless steel skin aren't having the private moment they might expect. Their gyrations are expanded, stretch, and displayed over a much greater surface area so that others can enjoy what would be merely a one-on-one experience in an ordinary carnival fun house mirror. But as has been established, this is no ordinary mirror. To some it looks like a rift in the very fabric of space and time, and its combination of simplicity and elegance have allowed it to be embraced as a quirky mascot. A walk under its nine-foot-tall arch can be a mind-bending experience.
In the years that Millennium Park was under construction all anyone could talk about was the Frank Ghery-designed Pritzker Pavilion. People talked about the signature Ghery style that would move Chicago's architectural sensibilities from the 1970's, firmly into the new millennium. Once the protective bubble surrounding "Cloud Gate" came down, people stopped talking about Ghery as the vision of the future. They talked about the acoustics of his creation. They talked about his ability to capture the feel of the city. They talked about the view he created of the orchestra. But they stopped talking about his art. Anish Kapoor clearly stole the show and in television interviews seemed mildly embarrassed by his success. His modesty is admirable. So is his bean.
This is Anish Kapoor's first public sculpture in the United States.
The sculpture was completely created in California. It was then taken apart, shipped to Chicago and reassembled.
July 8, 2004: The sculpture's protective tent was removed and it was seen by the public for the first time. WGN Television reported that the artist wasn't happy about it, because the sculpture wouldn't be fully complete for two more months.
September 16, 2004: WGN Television reported that completion of the sculpture was delayed because of its popularity. In September, it was supposed to be covered up again and the seams welded and polished to make a single seamless reflection. But because of the huge crowds that gather around the sculpture from early in the morning until very late into the night, it was been decided to hold off on completing the project until January, 2005.
September 8, 2005: A bit of controversy surrounds the closing of Millenium Park for the day. Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. paid the city $800,000.00 to rent the park for a private party. $300,000 was earmarked for day-to-day operating expenses. The rest for free concerts and other activities for the general public. It turned out to be just the first of many private events to take over what was supposed to be public space.
April 11, 2006: Crews finished buffing and polishing the seams out of the sculpture. It was finally completed and available to the public.
Febraury 2, 2009: The sculpture was vandalized by two people who carved "Ashley D" and "Peter S" into the gleaming surface.
R. V. Karanth
Friday, November 13th, 2009 @ 6:08am
Rating: Five stars. It is an amazing bubble! It was quite amusing to take my own picture along with skyscrapers at my back! (Visited on 24 October 2009)
Brent Kampert
Friday, August 21st, 2009 @ 4:48pm
Rating: Five stars. I like the reflections of the city inside this sculpture. As it is known locally "The bean" has a very neat mirroring glass curve on it. This is probably one of Chicago's Iconic Sculptures. If at a certain angle looking southwest, you can see the Sears(Willis) Tower to left of the sculpture, which makes a good contrast to Sears Tower.
Meredith Ramsey
Sunday, July 12th, 2009 @ 12:13pm
Rating: Five stars. Even fun if you're by yourself. No need to have anyone there to take a picture of you....you can take it of yourself! Just visited 3 days ago. It was awesome!
Anne Marie
Sunday, May 24th, 2009 @ 1:04pm
Rating: Five stars. Cloud Gate proved to me that beauty exists everywhere, it taught me how little I am comparatively to the world and yet when I stood next to "The Bean" i felt important just because i was near such exquisite art. It doubles the beauty of anything near, its a symbol of inspiration. it is magnificent
Beth Wolfe
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 @ 7:27pm
Rating: Five stars. I was just showing a co-worker pictures of the Bean. My husband helped fabricate the Bean in Oakland, California's 5th Ave Marina. There were many long, labor intensive days and nights worked to create this piece. I don't think most people can fully appreciate how many men it took to fabricate each peice of steel, bending straight pieces to become curved and polishing them to a diamond finish. The true artists are the men who built the Bean in Oakland, Ca.
pnina
Monday, November 3rd, 2008 @ 4:49pm
Rating: Five stars. Cool, clean-cut & magical. One of the highlights of my trip to Chicago
Kathy Fowler
Sunday, August 24th, 2008 @ 11:12am
Rating: Five stars. Simply beautiful. I just came home from my first trip to Chicago and loved Cloud Gate. It drew me in out of curiousity about this "bean" in the park and then astonished me with its beauty as I walked around and under it.
Super cool
Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 @ 10:32am
Rating: Five stars. Super cool, it makes we feel that art can match modern architecture
David D
Friday, May 9th, 2008 @ 3:19pm
Rating: Five stars. This is one of those things you remember, long after you've left Chicago. A beautiful piece of art.
ines palmero
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 @ 10:47pm
It is surprisingly beautiful.I would love to go and visit it personally. Nevertheles we can enjoy it by photgraph
Hugo Fonseca
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 @ 12:15am
Rating: Five stars. the Cloud Gate is simply amazing!!i really love it!!You the chicagoans are pretty lucky for having a thing like this in your city!!
Ralph Toynbee
Monday, November 26th, 2007 @ 8:15pm
Rating: One star. The good citizens of Chicago should all head down to millennium Park every Saturday morning at 10:00 with their cameras of every make and kind and snap away until the policing authorities of Chicago are sent into a donut eating frenzy.
Jonathan
Monday, November 5th, 2007 @ 3:11am
Rating: Two stars. I don't get it. It's a bean. And as for heroes..... No. And as a Chicagoan, I do not like being known world wide as the home of the bean. But that's just me.
Carolyn
Friday, November 2nd, 2007 @ 6:16pm
Rating: Five stars. We were in Chicago this week, the first night I went out for a walk with my 6 & 4 year old boys and we found ourselves here. We loved it! My boys called it the giant jelly bean and we went back the next day to see it again because they liked it so much. It is such a fantastic interactive sculpture.
Lalit Suryawanshi
Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 @ 12:39am
Rating: Five stars. Its unique. Its Beautiful. Its a messenger. The message I could read from the bean is. "I am the seed, who who want to accomodate the whole earth,who want to come closer to me and shadow the Willingness of being together and reflect the beauty in that togetherness"
Bob Segal
Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 @ 1:34pm
Rating: Five stars. I was there for opening day and when I saw Cloudgate my jaw dropped. I immediately predicted it would become the most photographed man made object on earth (well, maybe second to the Great Wall).
Robert Schnitzler
Tuesday, June 26th, 2007 @ 3:48pm
Rating: Five stars. Absolutely stunning... A true experience that makes everything else in Millenium Park look almost trivial...
Bridget
Sunday, June 3rd, 2007 @ 10:59pm
Rating: Five stars. Cloud Gate is an amazing interactive sculpture that makes us feel like a kid again..Viewing it from every angle and inside-out, you become a part of the art work.My students said seeing it was the best part of our trip to Chicago!
Lesley Susan Pearcey
Sunday, May 13th, 2007 @ 9:47am
Rating: Five stars. We visited Chicago in January just as it began to snow. Even with a coating of snow The Cloud Gate is a magnificent piece of architecture.
Johan Von Mausen
Thursday, May 10th, 2007 @ 3:01pm
Sehr Gut...
Kim
Tuesday, May 1st, 2007 @ 3:58pm
I loved this structure. I captured some amazing photographs of it on my trip to Chicago. Simply wonderful.
kelly rogan
Tuesday, April 17th, 2007 @ 9:38pm
Rating: Five stars. At first I thought it was ridiculous and then my guy and I started interacting with it and I had SO MUCH FUN. I call it the Magic Mirror Bean and I think it is one of the coolest experiences I have EVER had with sculpture!
ramlan abdullah
Tuesday, April 10th, 2007 @ 12:26pm
Rating: Five stars. what more can you asked...fantastic idea good selection of material and brave construction.
Nikola tomevski
Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 @ 1:30pm
Rating: Five stars. exciting architecture,excellent choice Chicago!
apurav jain
Saturday, February 17th, 2007 @ 2:05am
Rating: Five stars. thanks ashish this is the best architecture buliding that i imagine in my life,i have many designs in my mind but not have enoujh money to go on them.
brad
Saturday, February 10th, 2007 @ 2:25am
Rating: Five stars. This sculpture is a master-stroke of a highly evolved creative mind. In 20 or 30 years it will be fully known that this is the single most important public sculpture in decades. It is a deceptively simple and multi-layered work of art. The word 'profound' does not do it justice. Go and see for yourself and just drink it all in....
becky
Friday, February 2nd, 2007 @ 6:37pm
Your beautiful sculpture, cloud gate, or magic bean, is completely stunning. I wish I could visit it in person rather than via the internet. It is playful and interactive. It confronts people with what they are, where they live, etc. It's a celebration of your city. Congratulations!
Jonathan Carr
Sunday, January 21st, 2007 @ 5:35pm
Rating: Five stars. This is very entertaining. It's a great attraction.
Wenyun Li
Thursday, January 11th, 2007 @ 2:17pm
Rating: Five stars. I really had fun with Mr.Bean.From the bottom you can see many faces.
Anannya Mary Suresh
Saturday, December 23rd, 2006 @ 8:27am
Rating: Five stars. A very nice sculptureand will attract manypeople including me!
kirby
Thursday, December 7th, 2006 @ 8:54pm
Rating: Five stars. Who wouldnt like the bean! Its a beautiful structure!
Thomas Semesky
Monday, November 27th, 2006 @ 1:38pm
Rating: Five stars. It does attract the visitors even though the peice of art now seems rather small in relation to its surroundings. My last couple of visits have been more enjoyable watching the people reacting to the scupture then the actual scupture itself. It makes for great photography.
gchan
Tuesday, October 31st, 2006 @ 9:48am
Rating: Five stars. I think this is the opposite of a narcissistic sculpture as it reflects the beauty around it and is made better by those objects' reflections. It's deferential, reverent. It's also as simple as a child's smile. So happy!
tom
Monday, October 30th, 2006 @ 4:10pm
Rating: Four stars. very exciting architecture, but also completely narcissistic. public art without public.
Samantha Brenneman
Sunday, October 22nd, 2006 @ 12:26am
Rating: Five stars. You really have to experience it. It's magical. The whole park is wonderful, but Cloud Gate is the star of the show.
Tony Pellegrino
Tuesday, October 17th, 2006 @ 11:40pm
Rating: Five stars. I lived next to the shop in Oakland that fabricated the sculpture and watched in awe as this project went from idea to reality. It is absolutely an amazing technical feat. Everyone wondered if it could be done. The folks that made this things are incredible crasftsmen and artists. It goes without saying that it was a great idea to begin with.
shiwani bhargava
Thursday, September 21st, 2006 @ 3:28am
Rating: Five stars. Marvelous sculpture
KB, Maryland
Tuesday, August 8th, 2006 @ 10:02am
Rating: Five stars. First Saturday in August 2006, sunny day, with white fluffy clouds. Everyone viewing the sculpture was smiling. It just happens! No yelling or running around, just amazement. One note: there are never pictures of the underside. It swoops up inside to form a complex image of reflections. Make time to visit Millenium Park.
MARTIN PALEY
Sunday, July 30th, 2006 @ 4:21pm
Rating: Five stars. extrarodinarily engaging and totally satisfying...a thoroughly accessable work of art and whimsy.
Steven Alexander
Thursday, July 13th, 2006 @ 11:03am
Rating: Five stars. I haven't visited Chicago for a few years. The next time i do I will make a special trip just to see this fantastic sculpture.
Peter Jansen
Friday, May 12th, 2006 @ 11:21pm
Rating: Five stars. I visited Chicago two weeks ago for a conference. Nobody mentioned Cloud Gate, however when I strolled into Millenium Park on a nice sunny day I was utterly bowled over by this fantastic piece of interactive public art. Just Great!!
Jeff Durber
Saturday, September 4th, 2004 @ 6:16pm
Rating: Five stars. Well done Chicago for making this happen. The artist and fabricators are clearly heroes!
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R. V. Karanth
Five stars.
ines palmero
Hugo Fonseca
Ralph Toynbee
One star.
Two stars.
Lesley Susan Pearcey
Johan Von Mausen
ramlan abdullah
Nikola tomevski
Wenyun Li
tom
Four stars.
Peter Jansen