The Barcelona artist Jaume Plensa is best-known for his spectacular Crown Fountain in Millennium Park, Chicago. Constructed between 1999 and 2004 with support from the Crown Foundation, this work features water cascading down two monumental towers, as well as video and lighting effects. Alternating images recorded on video by Plensa show the faces of 1,000 Chicagoans from all segments of society. Every 12 minutes these faces transform into gargoyles reminiscent of traditional fountains. Plensa's Crown Fountain, which swiftly became a popular public attraction, is comprehensively presented in this monograph, along with an extensive chronology of his multi-faceted oeuvre.
""Chicago's Fabulous Fountains" presents in words and pictures many of the more than one hundred outdoor public fountains in Chicago, informing readers about their origin and place in the city"--
2018 IPPY Award Silver Medalist for Great Lakes Nonfiction Winner, ISHS Annual Award for Other Publications, 2018 Most people do not realize it, but Chicago is home to many diverse, artistic, fascinating, and architecturally and historically important fountains. In this attractive volume, Greg Borzo reveals more than one hundred outdoor public fountains of Chicago with noteworthy, amusing, or surprising stories about these gems. Complementing Borzo’s engagingly written text are around one hundred beautiful fine-art color photos of the fountains, taken by photographer Julia Thiel for this book, and a smaller number of historical photos. Greg Borzo begins by providing an overview of Chicago’s fountains and discussing the oldest ones, explaining who built them and why, how they survived as long as they have, and what they tell us about early Chicago. At the heart of the book are four thematic chapters on drinking fountains, iconic fountains, plaza fountains, and park and parkway fountains. Among the iconic fountains described are Buckingham (in Grant Park), Crown (in Millennium Park), Centennial (with its water cannon shooting over the Chicago River), and two fountains designed by famed sculptor Lorado Taft (Time and Great Lakes). Plazas all around Chicago—in the neighborhoods as well as downtown—have fountains that anchor communities or enhance the skyscrapers they adorn. Also presented are the fountains in Chicago’s parks, some designed by renowned artists and many often overlooked or taken for granted. A chapter on the self-proclaimed City of Fountains, Kansas City, Missouri, shows how Chicago’s city planners could raise public awareness and funding for the care and preservation of these important landmarks. Also covered are a brief period of fountain building and rehabbing (1997–2002) that vastly enriched the city; fountains that no longer exist; and proposed Chicago fountains that were never built, as well as the future of fountain design. A beautiful photography book and a guide to the city’s many fountains, Chicago’s Fabulous Fountains also provides fascinating histories and behind-the-scenes stories of these underappreciated artistic and architectural treasures of the Windy City.
For his signature works, artist Jaume Plensa of Barcelona (1955-) has created significant outdoor projects and commissions for public spaces worldwide. His recent commission, Crown Fountain (Chicago, 2004) has been met with critical acclaim and embraced by its public. While the whimsical and humorous traits of Crown Fountain are critical to the success of this public sculpture, they have also diverted attention from the historical references and grotesque origins of this artwork. This paper presents the public commission and implementation of this artwork and explores the presence of the grotesque in Crown Fountain which has been previously overlooked.
"Upon opening on July 16, 2004, Chicago's Millennium Park was hailed as one of the world's most important millennium projects. Timothy Gilfoyle's biography of this phenomenal undertaking begins over a hundred years ago - when the site of the park was still part of Lake Michigan - and takes readers right up to the present day. Drawing on the author's comprehensive understanding of Chicago history, interviews with planners, artists, and public officials; and careful documentation of the park's financing and construction, Millennium Park is a thoroughly readable and illustrated testament to the park, the city, and all those attempting to think and act on a global scale. And underlying this history are revelations about the globalization of art, the use of culture as an engine of economic expansion, and the nature of political and philanthropic power."--BOOK JACKET.
Essential reading for anyone interested in art, community, and the built environment "An around-the-world glimpse into how artists reimagine the places, spaces, landscapes, streets, and skies we share."--Nina MacLaughlin, Boston Globe A towering abstract steel sculpture in the middle of a traffic island in Spoleto, Italy. Soaring vertical gardens enhanced with digital technology in Singapore's Marina Bay. A skateboard bowl that doubles as a community pool in San Juan, Puerto Rico. These are just a few of the contemporary public artworks defining cities around the globe that are featured in The World Atlas of Public Art. The book charts a global survey of works and practices from the past six decades featuring more than 125 significant permanent and temporary public artworks by leading contemporary artists, including Ruth Asawa, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Olafur Eliasson, Yayoi Kusama, Simone Leigh, and OSGEMEOS. Readers encounter works in chapters on six public locations: grounds, walls, structures, waters, routes, and skies. Organized geographically within these chapters, the book reveals not only where to find these artworks but also how they generate meaning from their location. Between the chapters are essays on the themes of public bodies, gatherings, platforms, services, and debates. Enlivened with more than 300 energetic and eye-catching images, this book is an exploration of how art transforms public spaces, promotes social interaction, fosters community, and provokes impassioned responses.
With the help of Elan Penn's glorious images, university professor and public historian Dennis Cremin leads us on a spectacular tour of the windy city. Visit beloved landmarks and great institutions, such as the Water Tower, Hull House, and Navy Pier, and learn about Chicago's history from the settlement days to the grand metropolis we know today. Celebrate world-renowned cultural sites, such as the Art Institute, Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium, as well as brilliant newcomers, including the Mexican Fine Arts Museum. Walk through the beautiful city-created Millennium Park, a spectacular result of the partnership between public and private sectors. Gaze at the economic, political, and artistic structures that marked Chicago's budding cityscape in the past, and still remain today: the Stock Yards Entrance, Pilgrim Baptist Church, and Lincoln Park's Bates Fountain. This collection truly captures the essence of a great city.
A Wall Street Journal bestseller. The fourth book in the million-copy bestselling Kingfountain series from Jeff Wheeler. Following the downfall of a tyrant, years have passed in prosperity for the kingdom of Ceredigion. Now, as the time comes to celebrate the new king's nuptials, the specter of a new enemy emerges to destroy all that has been painstakingly built in those years. Tryneowy Kiskaddon has grown up learning military and diplomatic strategy from her father, one of the king's closest advisors. She feels her destiny lies in defending the kingdom as a knight, not as a Wizr as her parents have decided, though no lady of the realm has taken up the sword in a century. As she seeks to understand her own Fountain-blessed powers, she studies in the tradition of her mother while training in secret and closely following the realm's politics, alarmed by her mother's vision of an impending clash and a devastating future. But the pieces on fate's game board are in motion, and on the eve of battle, a threatening force irrevocably changes the future of the kingdom and her own. Does Trynne have what it takes to maneuver Ceredigion's key players into position and outsmart the kingdom's enemies--even those still concealed in shadow?
