Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate, located in Millennium Park, is Chicago’s most successful new visitor attraction of the 21st century.
So far, nothing else has come close to The Bean, as Kapoor’s work is popularly known.
Tourists adore a sculpture made up of 168 touchable stainless steel plates, all welded together so it appears to be a single, super-cool polished surface. It’s the city’s No. 1 selfie spot, all the more remarkable since the current desire for constant self-documentation was still in its infancy in 2004 when work began on the project.
Better yet, The Bean reflects the city’s skyline, causing its visitors to look up and out at what surrounds the object of their desire. And it’s relative lack of height and baked-in safety has meant the attraction has avoided the problems found, for examples, with The Vessel at New York’s Hudson Yards, originally designed with steps for people to climb. The Bean can’t hurt anyone; it just brings pleasure to all.
But if you tried to visit The Bean after last August, you had a sad-sack experience; the sculpture was closed for repairs that, you will be shocked to know, took longer than billed. The real issue was The Bean’s home, Grainger Plaza, to which the city was adding “accessibility improvements,” including ramps and new steps, as well as other maintenance issues. Visitors could not get close to The Bean but were stuck behind rough barricades. For months.
We’re all for these improvements but they should have been done on or before time and, while we don’t doubt it was more convenient just to close off the whole area, we wish they’d found a way to keep some access to The Bean, especially after the renovation fell a couple of months beyond the stated schedule.
“Not an emergency,” you say? We say, “Why disappoint first-time visitors to Chicago for so long?”
The Bean deserved a faster schedule; it’s that important to this city’s image as the coming summer will prove.
