This is what my afternoon looked like. A gallery talk about some of the sculpture pieces at the Art Institute, followed by a quick snack of hazelnut mousse in the cafe while I reviewed my hastily-scrawled notes. There are quite a few public sculptures in Chicago, and I'm interested in what makes these stand out in a city that sometimes overwhelms my senses. Sculpture is a bit foreign to me, as I haven't really thought about it since I was a sophomore at USF, and even then it wasn't my main focus. The gallery talk was great. I came away with the idea that public sculpture was and still is a prestigious symbol for a successful city.

One block north of the city is a good example of this:

The official name is "Cloud Gate," more commonly known as "the bean." When it was first unveiled, photography was prohibited due to copyright (allegedly). I was a little disappointed to find this rule had been lifted, as I was keen to fight the power, as photography actually adds a fantastic level of interactivity.

People can take mirror self-portraits with the city in the background, little kids can run underneath it, and everyone can actually get close to the art and see how it works. It's participatory now, and I think that's great. Elsewhere in the park, there are large LED grid video installations with giant faces on them.




A face.

Another face.


Detail view.

See the RGB LEDs? The painting that inspired that method is in the Art Institute- "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat.

I plan to relax a little this weekend. On Saturday and Sunday there is a big digital video festival at the museum of contemporary art. One event that stands out to me is a Radiohead video retrospective. I picked a good time to come to the city, that's for sure.