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What's Up With These Huge Rocks By The Bean?

By David Matthews | September 17, 2015 2:29pm
"Rock," a new art piece in Millennium Park, is a preview of an upcoming lakefront kiosk at Montrose Beach.
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DNAinfo/David Matthews

MILLENNIUM PARK — The newest art piece at Millennium Park (is) rocks.

"Rock," a circle of eight large limestones weighing between 3,000 and 9,000 pounds, were installed Wednesday by the north entrance to Cloud Gate, Chicago's famous sculpture and tourist attraction also known as "The Bean." 

The stones, which were donated by the Chicago Park District out of a Hyde Park storage facility, will be included in an upcoming lakefront kiosk at Montrose Beach as part of this year's Chicago Architecture Biennial. Soon guests will be able to paint and otherwise decorate the stones, which will help support the kiosk when it is built next year, said Douglas Pancoast, an associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who helped coordinate the installation. 

"People in exterior environments interact with materials, that's how it goes," Pancoast said.


Pancoast next to a stone in "Rock." [DNAinfo/David Matthews]

The piece is the brainchild of Kunle Adeyemi, an Amsterdam-based architect who partnered with the school for the Montrose kiosk. Once built next spring, the kiosk will be composed of concrete horizontal shelters jutting out from the limestones, which will serve as a breakwater from Lake Michigan. Other kiosks are planned for Grant, Hyde and Lincoln parks. 


A rendering of the Montrose kiosk. [Chicago Architecture Biennial]

The Biennial, an unprecedented festival celebrating North American architecture, kicks off next month. 

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