Millennium Park, Chicago
Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, US, and originally intended to celebrate the third millennium. It is a prominent civic center near the city’s Lake Michigan shoreline that covers a 24.5-acre section of northwestern Grant Park. The centerpiece of AT&T Plaza at Millennium Park is Cloud Gate or popularly known as The Bean, a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Sir Anish Kapoor. Cloud Gate was created by using computer technology to cut 168 massive stainless-steel plates into precise shapes which were then pieced together like a puzzle and welded shut. Once fully assembled, the 12-foot-high central arch provided a “gate” to the concave chamber on the underside of the sculpture prompting Kapoor to formally name the piece Cloud Gate.