Pretty much everything in Millennium Park is kitsch rather than art, in my opinion, excepting perhaps the Lurie Garden. The ickiest elements in the Park are the two “interactive” light pillars that are part of the Jaume Plensa-designed Crown Fountain.
The fountain is unquestionably a big crowd pleaser, with its no-holds-barred water attraction, but the pillars are grotesque and intrusive, and we residents are stuck with them 24/7. They could have been so much better! No one talks about how they have absolutely no aesthetic charm on three of their four sides.
What’s your opinion?
Jody says
I do agree, but it is ever so popular (along with Cloud Gate). When I first saw it, I thought it was kinda creepy. Crown Fountain has always been packed with kids when I’ve been there. I suppose that most of the visiting folks aren’t even looking at it as a piece of “art.”
Celia says
The kids do like the fountain, and I’m glad that the park provides something that (in the summer heat) has everyone chilling. I just wish it had a little more dignity! It ends up being “beachlike”–but, in a more urban setting, that’s just not the same. . . . It’s interesting that the artist didn’t expect people to use his contraption for wading. . . . for him the fountain is “interactive” because people must still look at its light features in off-season.
I like Cloud Gate much more–people really do interact with it while having fun. I don’t see any downside to it at all–it’s great pop art!
Cheers,
Celia
Harley says
Yup, those light pillars are indeed pretty ugly !