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Crown Fountain is sculpture royalty at Millennium Park.
This brainchild of Spanish artist Jaume Plensa involves two 50-ft tall LED screens displaying faces staring, smiling and spouting out water at each other. Between them is a black granite surface covered with water a few centimeters deep, though it stretches out 232 by 48-ft. The water helps by converting a terrifying black abyss into a relaxing reflection of the Chicago sky. The faces of 1,000 different people having the world’s longest water fight is sweet, especially with kids playing in the water below on a hot summer day.
However, there were doubts that Plensa’s fountain would be such a loved part of Millennium Park. Each face displayed belonged to real Chicago natives that were invited to participate by the School of the Art Institute. The volunteers found themselves sitting awkwardly in a dentist chair, making odd faces at a video camera. One volunteer said, “They had us blow; make a hole with our lips. It was quite an afternoon.”
The architects involved in the construction of Plensa’s piece were nervous it would come off as tacky. His early sketches included large amounts of water spewing out rapidly from the top and sides of the screen to imitate hair. It’s probably safe to assume someone put their foot down at a certain point. Michael Lash, the city’s previous public art director, also raised concerns that the work was trying to compete with Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate and he didn’t want to turn it into a “pissing contest.” But through hard work, dedication and $17 million, the installation was completed all without any lingering bad blood (and Lash was fired for throwing a cell phone at a coworker).
The fountain has recently been reopened after several months of renovations in early 2017. It definitely isn’t 2004 anymore. Remember those dark times of holding your Motorola Razor in one hand and your Ipod Classic in the other? Chicago city officials are hoping their screen update will show they’re finally catching up with the times. The screens are now 2.5-in thick and show brighter resolution, a definite upgrade from their previous 30-in thick faded screens. Just in time to compete with the blinding summer sun.
Sources
Sources
- David Matthews, “Who Are The Faces On Crown Fountain?” DnaInfo, 5 May 2017. https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170505/downtown/how-to-get-face-on-th… park-fountain
- David Matthews, “‘Magical’ Crown Fountain With New Video Returns to Millennium Park,” DnaInfo, 21 April 2017. https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20170421/downtown/crown-fountain-bright… millennium-park-faces
- Jake Malooley, “At its tenth anniversary, Crown Fountain remains a wellspring of questions,” Chicago Reader, 11 June 2014. https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/crown-fountain-jaume-plensa millennium-park-tenth-anniversary-1004-portraits/Content?oid=1388
- “The Crown Fountain,” Millennium Park Foundation. http://millenniumparkfoundation.org/places/crown-fountain/
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Here is what Wikipedia says about Crown Fountain
Crown Fountain (sometimes known as the "Squirting Faces") is an interactive work of public art and video sculpture featured in Chicago's Millennium Park, which is located in the Loop community area. Designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa and executed by Krueck and Sexton Architects, it opened in July 2004. The fountain is composed of a black granite reflecting pool placed between a pair of glass brick towers. The towers are 50 feet (15.2 m) tall, and they use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to display digital videos on their inward faces. Construction and design of the Crown Fountain cost $17 million. The water operates from May to October, intermittently cascading down the two towers and spouting through a nozzle on each tower's front face.
Residents and critics have praised the fountain for its artistic and entertainment features. It highlights Plensa's themes of dualism, light, and water, extending the use of video technology from his prior works. Its use of water is unique among Chicago's many fountains, in that it promotes physical interaction between the public and the water. Both the fountain and Millennium Park are highly accessible because of their universal design.
Crown Fountain has been one of the most controversial of all the Millennium Park features. Before it was even built, some were concerned that the sculpture's height violated the aesthetic tradition of the park. After construction, surveillance cameras were installed atop the fountain, which led to a public outcry (and their quick removal).
However, the fountain has survived its contentious beginnings to find its way into Chicago pop culture. It is a popular subject for photographers and a common gathering place. While some of the videos displayed are of scenery, most attention has focused on its video clips of local residents. The fountain is a public play area and offers people an escape from summer heat, allowing children to frolic in the fountain's water.
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