Photo of the Day

Cloud Gate on the AT&T Plaza in Millennium Park, Chicago

According to www.millenniumpark.org:

Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor’s first public outdoor work installed in the United States. The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city’s famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a “gate” to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.

Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high. Cloud Gate sits upon the At&T Plaza, which was made possible by a gift from AT&T.

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

The locals in Chicago call it The Bean. According to blogger, Cory Doctorow...after AT&T (now SBC) donated the sculpture, the city hired security guards to keep professional photographers from photographing the mirrored sculpture unless they first obtained a $350 permit. Well, the city has since reversed its position and anyone can photograph this beautiful piece of art.

Millennium Park is located in the heart of downtown Chicago. It is bordered by Michigan Avenue to the west, Columbus Drive to the east, Randolph Street to the North and Monroe Street to the South.

The park is open daily from 6 A.M.–11 P.M. Admission is always free.

Visitors to the Millennium Park are encouraged to make the Millennium Park Welcome Center their first stop. The Welcome Center is located at 201 E. Randolph Street in the Northwest Exelon Pavilion.

The Welcome Center has information about the park, including maps and program schedules or you could download a map of Millennium Park now. You could also click here to download the Millennium Park Brochure, which contains detailed information about the park’s art and architecture.

For more information about Millennium Park, you can also download the new Millennium Park audio tour AT NO CHARGE for your computer or MP3 player.

Next time you’re in Chicago take a picture and send it to me. I’ll post it here! Thanks.