New Delhi: An anonymous flyer went viral calling for help to nudge a 110-ton stainless steel sculpture, better known as “The Bean,” exactly 7 inches to the left. An estimated 250 people answered the call but despite their best efforts, The Bean stood firmly in place in Millennium Park.
“In the back of everyone’s minds, we knew it wasn’t really gonna move,” Saniyah Whaley, a freshman at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who attended after seeing the Instagram post, told Block Club Chicago. “I think these events are just for people to build stronger connections in community. It brought a lot of joy to a lot of people there.”
The flyer, which circulated on social media the day before, revived a long-running internet hoax that claims a man is trapped inside the sculpture. It asked people to shift it at the extremely specific time of 12:47 PM on Sunday.
Organizers suggested that a hidden door under the right side of the fabiform-shaped structure might be accessible if the piece were shifted, allowing the crowd to pass along “a pickle and other resources.” The effort was the latest in a string of absurdist viral gatherings in the city, following earlier protests and a mockumentary tied to the same meme. No one is trapped inside, city officials have repeatedly confirmed.
Crowds surrounded the landmark and pushed in unison. Videos captured phones held high as participants leaned in.
“I don’t know if we got it the full seven inches, but I will say that compared to the last time I was here, it looks like it was moved slightly,” Chicago promoter and entertainer Taylor Bennett who helped rally the group later joked on social media. He added that they might have managed “at least one inch,”. He later clarified in the caption that the sculpture had not moved at all.
“This is stupid. I love it,” one of the comments read.
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Artist and sculpture
Sculptor Anish Kapoor, who was born in Mumbai and later moved to London, designed Cloud Gate (colloquially known as ‘The Bean’) as a permanent public commission for Millennium Park. Fabricated from 168 highly polished stainless-steel plates welded seamlessly together, the piece is roughly 66 feet long, 33 feet high, and 42 feet wide. It was constructed between 2004 and 2006 and formally unveiled in 2006.
Its liquid, mercurial form was inspired by a droplet of mercury. The seamless mirror surface reflects and distorts the Chicago skyline and passing clouds. Visitors can walk under its 12-foot arch into a concave chamber Kapoor calls the “omphalos” (navel), where reflections multiply in a vortex.
“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.” Kapoor has said.
He insists that he wanted the work to engage the city’s vertical architecture while creating a horizontal form that draws in the sky. He has also described the piece as exploring form, public space, and the experience of an object in space. Although he initially found the popular nickname, The Bean, “completely stupid,” he later embraced it.
“It’s great for it to have a colloquial name, its own lingo,” he told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I call it ‘The Bean,’ too.”
Today Cloud Gate draws an estimated 20 million visitors a year and ranks among the most visited attractions in the Midwest. He has noted that the sculpture has taken on a life of its own through the millions who photograph themselves with it.
“They now own it more than I do,” he said. “It is the ultimate selfie object.”
(Edited by Janaki Pande)