MILLENNIUM PARK — Millennium Park visitors will soon get a little less face time.
City crews on Monday morning began taking down the giant head sculpture at Madison Street and Michigan Avenue. The 39-foot-tall piece, called "Looking Into My Dreams, Awilda," will be gone by the end of the week, a spokeswoman for the city's department of cultural affairs and special events said.
Crews taking down the sculpture Monday morning. [DNAinfo/David Matthews]
Designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, the 15-piece resin sculpture is a depiction of a girl from the Dominican Republic. Her eyes are closed "because we keep beauty inside ourselves, and one day we all need to look inside," Plensa previously told the Tribune. Smaller, iron-cast sculptures of three other girls are on display in the park's South Boeing Gallery and will also be removed.
The smaller sculptures shown in 2014. [DNAinfo/David Matthews]
The "Awilda" sculptures opened in 2014 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Crown Fountain, which Plensa also designed. A city spokesman said there is nothing currently scheduled to replace "Awilda," but new exhibits are expected to open in the park this summer.
The sculpture is leaving the park because it was purchased by Jorge Pérez of Miami-based real estate firm The Related Group, a spokesman for the company confirmed. The sculpture will land in Miami's Museum Park for two years before moving elsewhere in the city and eventually the Pérez Art Museum Miami.
"Many great cities throughout the country have major public art pieces that identify them as important cultural destinations. When I saw 'Looking into my Dreams, Awilda' in Millennium Park in Chicago, I immediately knew the piece had to live in Miami permanently," said Patricia Garcia-Velez Hanna, Pérez's personal curator, said in a statement. "The sculpture is beautiful, it instills a sense of introspection, serenity and most importantly, it identifies with Miami because of its relationship to the water and the sea, which is so important for the artist.”
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
