Hundreds Try to Push Chicago's Bean Seven Inches. It Does Not Budge.
Hundreds of people gathered in Chicago on Sunday to push Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate sculpture seven inches to the left. The sculpture did not move.
Cloud Gate, nicknamed the Bean for its kidney-bean shape, is a 110-ton stainless steel work from 2006. It stands in Millennium Park, a public park in downtown Chicago, and measures 66 feet long and 33 feet high. Visitors know it for the way it reflects the city skyline and the crowds around it.
The event started with an anonymous flyer. According to Block Club Chicago, a neighbourhood news site, the flyer called on people to push the Bean about seven inches to the left, with a first push set for 12:47 p.m. The event's online page claimed there might be a latch door under the right side of the sculpture. That door, the page said, could be reached once the Bean was moved, giving a man inside the sculpture supplies.
That man does not exist. A viral rumour online claimed a man was trapped inside Cloud Gate, and the flyer built on it. Chicago 42nd Ward Alderman Brendan Reilly said that no man has been trapped inside the Bean for the past 21 years, according to ArtNews. An alderman is an elected member of a city council who represents one of the city's wards, or districts.
Block Club Chicago estimated that about 250 people took part in the push. Crowds pressed their hands against the steel and pushed together, but the sculpture stayed where it was. No latch door was found, according to ArtNews, which reported the attempt on Monday.
CBS Chicago also covered the gathering in Millennium Park on Sunday.
Cloud Gate is a large, heavy object, and people who work near it have long had to manage crowds in the park. A stunt like this one can lead to damage to the surface, injuries in the crush, or simply hours of wasted time for the people who staff the park.
The story shows how quickly a claim can spread online and turn into a real-world gathering. Most people who came to the park appear to have come to see what would happen. The rumour, however, had no basis, and the Bean stayed exactly where Kapoor placed it.
