Millennium Park Inc. Cloud Gate Series

Chicago Public Library
Special Collections and Preservation Division
Neighborhood History Research Collection

Millennium Park Inc.
Cloud Gate Series

Historical Note

Name:	Cloud Gate
Designer:	Anish Kapoor, London, United Kingdom
Dimensions:	66 feet long, 42 feet wide, 33 feet high, weighs 100 tons
Fabricator:	Performance Structures Inc., Oakland, California
Cost:	$20 million, [includes $3 million from SBC]
Completed	2006

Cloud Gate, by Anish Kapoor, is made of 168 plates of highly polished stainless steel plates welded seamlessly into one. Weighing 110 tons and measuring 33 feet high, 42 feet wide, and 66 feet long, Cloud Gate is one of the largest outdoor sculptures in the world.

Anish Kapoor presented the design for his sculpture for Millennium Park in 1998 and, with the help of engineer Ethan Silva of Performance Structures Inc. (PSI), overcame enormous difficulties in achieving the finished look of liquid mercury desired by the artist. Silva used a computer-controlled milling machine to make the individual steel plates. The sculpture was made by PSI in Oakland, California, then disassembled, and transported to Chicago. When Millennium Park opened to the public in July 2004 the sculpture was not yet complete. While the piece was fully assembled, the welds still had to be ground out and polished. In January 2005 Cloud Gate was covered by a large tent-like enclosure while the final sanding, grinding and polishing were completed. The finished artwork was dedicated on May 15, 2006.

As is his practice, Anish Kapoor did not name his sculpture until it was fairly well complete. The unnamed installation was affectionately known as "the Bean" by Chicagoans, much to the chagrin of Kapoor. However, at the dedication of the sculpture Kapoor acknowledged its colloquial name, his sculpture having become one of the most recognizable and popular pieces of public art in the world.

For more information about the design and construction of Cloud Gate, or for more information about Anish Kapoor and his work, researchers are encouraged to consult Timothy J. Gilfoyle's Millennium Park: Creating a Chicago Landmark, F548.65.M55G55 2006.

Box 1 Folder	1	Biography, Anish Kapoor, c. 2002.
	2	Scanned images of computer renderings of Cloud Gate, n.d. Research copies may be made, for any other reproductions permission must be obtained from the Artist.
	3	Transport of the Anish Kapoor Sculpture, October 2002.
o/s A46		"The Fabricator, official publication of the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association, International", May 2006. Contains case study article, "Metal Fabricating in a New Millennium" by Kate Bachman.
o/s D11		Presentation board, computer rendering of Cloud Gate, n.d. 23" x 34". Research copies may be made, for any other reproductions permission must be obtained from the Artist.

Audio-Visual

Photographs

1.1	Color, computer-generated rendering of Cloud Gate, c. 1999. Research copies may be made, for any other reproductions permission must be obtained from the Artist.
1.2	Color, computer-generated rendering of Cloud Gate, c. 1999. Research copies may be made, for any other reproductions permission must be obtained from the Artist.
1.3	Color, computer-generated rendering of Cloud Gate, c. 1999. Research copies may be made, for any other reproductions permission must be obtained from the Artist.
1.4	Color, computer-generated rendering of Cloud Gate, c. 1999. Research copies may be made, for any other reproductions permission must be obtained from the Artist.

Artifacts

2006.16

Maquette, Cloud Gate by Anish Kapoor, scale model, 1/16" = 1'.00". Made of solid cast steel through the lost wax process, surface is grained, sanded, polished and chrome electroplated to same specifications as real sculpture for image reflection, 1999.

Millennium Park Inc. Cloud Gate Series Archival Collections

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