I'm looking over this book I borrowed called Chicago A Pictoral Celebration, of many notable buildings, sculptures and gardens in Chicago. I took the paragraph below from page 107; it's talking about Millenium Park's sculptures.
"Much like Kapoor's Cloud Gate sculpture, (Jaume) Plensa has talked about the Crown Fountain as an environment in which people can interact with the work of art. Such interactive installments in Millenium Park may very well be a reflection of modern society, in which individuals feel increasingly isolated and lonely. At the same time, they encourage people to interact with the art—and it is in this civic spirit that Millenium Park was built, and the embodiments of this spirit throughout the grounds are without a doubt its greatest achievement."
In 2004, I was working downtown at Harold Washington College two nights a week at Wabash and Lake Streets. Many afternoons I took an early train, went one stop further and spent time at the Chicago Culture Center. I watched as the park progressed both out the Michigan Avenue windows as well as from viewing the three dimensional models that were displayed. I remember hearing all the buzz about The Jellybean, (Chicagoan's unofficially named it such before Anish Kapoor could name his own sculpture) and when I first looked at it I thought it was stupid (on paper anyway). I remember my first experience seeing the real Cloud Gate. I was so completely surprised and impressed at how it drew people in, how people laid down on the ground to take pictures, stood in front of it, asked others to take pictures, went inside and up close to see their reflections, all kinds of things people were doing there. It was engagement with a piece of art like I'd never really experienced before; and, it was extraordinary.
Are you familiar with Crown Fountain? What a fun, exuberant day can be spent there. Either wading in and getting wet or just watching the kids and others enjoying themselves at this whimsical, engaging piece of art in the park.
Engagement, yeah, I think it is exactly what people are missing more and more as they spend the better part of their days with their best friends; their technology of choice.
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