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.
