Millennium Park1
I had a chance to visit Millennium Park last Sunday in Chicago. It's a spectacle of what public space can be for a community, a reminder of how dismal life can get in a suburb where the only space that people share is the tarmac on the freeway to work, or the parking lot in front of Wal-Mart.
The approach is natural. I was surprised that the trees still maintained their leaves this far out of fall. In South Dakota, most have taken the bleak look of winter.
There is an ice-rink2 as you approach from the south. I crossed Michigan Ave and stopped briefly before heading up to the Cloud Gate sculpture.
Crown Fountain (designed by Spaniard Jaume Plensa) is an enormous display which alternates on various faces of a very diverse Chicago. The backdrop is the beautiful Chicago skyline. I remember driving on Lake Shore Drive for the first time after being in Los Angeles. I had no idea what a city could be -
My favorite piece of the park is the "bean3." The official name of the sculpture is Cloud Gate, and it is the work of British artist Anish Kapor. The most ingenious aspect of this sculpture is that, as a reflective surface, nearly everyone who approaches it intends to look at their reflection with the thought of seeing themselves and yet, because of its shape, it forces a wider perspective. The people who look at themselves see everyone around them, as well as the city looming behind. They must see themselves in a larger context, in the public context. In the artist's own words:
"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. "
"It's a multiple-layered experience of a kind of personal space that's opened up in the stone and the city space that's reflected on the exterior."
Watching people approach is interesting because you can see this affect. Some try to get as close as they can in order to minimize that larger context and look at themselves more clearly, but this is futile because of the shape of the reflective "gate."
Children are also humorous as they approach the bean; they will often make gestures to differentiate themselves or start pointing at their friends and/or parents. Again, the larger context rule applies as they look for themselves and begin to see others.
Frank Ghery's band shell decorates the outdoor ampitheatre. It's signature Ghery with curved steel and a lot of glitz4. What's interesting is that usually when he designs something he tries to make it the most important thing in its spacial context, but at Millenium Park the band shell isn't dominant, it's a piece of a much larger experience.
Close to the ampitheatre are seats, but behind them is a large field of grass. I can imagine that the summer will bring some great outdoor concerts with sounds that reach the city and a large space for people to sit down and experience it all.
The BP bridge joins the main features of Millennium Park to the eastern portion of the park on the other side of a busy expressway with the same curvaceous steel look that lends itself to Ghery's shell and the silver bean.
I like the notion of public space and public experiences. It's great to be around other people and realize that I'm a part of something bigger. I'm connected. It's a bane and a blessing in rural South Dakota be isolated: it affords space and time to think, and yet it's so easy to forget the larger connections we have to each other. What better city than Chicago, destroyed in 1871 and rebuilt for present, to teach us the value of public space, art, and effort.
1Not to be confused with the Millennium Park in Wyoming.
2For obvious reasons, ice skating doesn't hold too much appeal for me.
3I like calling it the "bean," but it's my own term so don't expect to see it elsewhere.
4For some people, this isn't a good thing: If "glitzy" literally means "glittery," then it is a perfect description of most post-modern architecture -- flashy, superficially appealing, without real substance. - so say some people.
5:57:46 PM 
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