Crown Fountain at Millennium Park

Driving through the downtown in the city of Chicago, just near the millennium Park, I came across this strange pair of rectangular buildings, facing each other, separated by the pool of ankle deep water, the children waded through the water from one building to another. This is one of the most interesting interactive art pieces in Chicago. Made of 10,000 glass bricks, it rises over 50 feet and is designed by Jaume Plensa.

The interesting part of this building is that water pours down the towers glass block exterior in a cascade on three sides. I was attracted to the fourth side that featured banks of red, green and blue LEDs, which when I viewed from car window from far, it gave the illusion of projected video.

This is also called Spitting Fountain. I was told, that during daylight hours, the faces of one thousand people are displayed on the towers one at the time. Each persists for 13 minutes.

The expression of the face changed over the 13 minutes, first a serious expression, then the parting of the lips, a smile, and during the final minute, the lips round up and eject a spout of water from their mouths. some of the people went crazy during the waterspout and danced under the water spray, till they were completely drenched.

After 13 minutes, a cascade of water falls over the faces, and a new one is revealed. These faces were selected and filmed by students from the Art Institute of Chicago. They were not told that they would be part of a fountain. Instead, they were instructed to act as if they were blowing a kiss.

But it creates lot of excitement each time the water sprouts from the mouth of the faces on this structure. I was thrilled too, watching this spectacle…

It was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen.