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Nearly 20 years after the debut of Cloud Gate, colloquially referred to as “The Bean,” in Chicago, British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor has unveiled its twin in New York City. The new reflective sculpture is smaller than its predecessor, and tucked into a corner of the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan, underneath a condo called Jenga. While the naming ceremony won’t take place until the spring, the modern installation has already caught the attention of people walking by.
Compared to Cloud Gate, which measures 66 feet long and 33 feet high and is situated in the middle of Millennium Park, the new “mini bean” is a little more inconspicuous. Not only is it slightly more diminutive in size—coming in at about 48 feet long and 19 feet tall—but it also wraps around the corner of a tower, just beside the sidewalk and intersection. In spite of these differences, it still shares many traits with Kapoor’s first version, featuring 38 stainless-steel plates that have been welded together and polished to a smooth, pebble-like shape.
Kapoor’s newest work cost between $8 million and $10 million and was not without its share of challenges. In addition to the pandemic, which stretched construction to four years, the fabricator of the sculpture, Performance Structures, Inc., also had to secure the installation in a different way than Cloud Gate, which is bolted to the plaza in Millennium Park. “The Leonard Street sculpture has a different support mechanism,” the fabricator explains. “When completed, the entire sculpture will be suspended with a system of cables and spring members so that it will be able to move slightly with changes of temperature and wind and snow loads. All of the cables will need to be properly tensioned during the installation process.”
You can find the new “mini bean” sculpture at 56 Leonard Street in Manhattan.
After four years of construction, New York City has its own “Bean” sculpture.
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The new installation was designed by British-Indian sculptor Anish Kapoor, who created Cloud Gate, better known as “The Bean” sculpture in Chicago.
Strolling down in Tribeca yesterday I discovered we New York have our own Bean. pic.twitter.com/AbAs05A7vy
— jacinda_hues (@bluelily32) February 1, 2023
The new “bean” is located at 56 Leonard Street in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan.
at last complete: anish kapoor’s newest ‘bean’ nestles into the streets of new york. https://t.co/BSPdDkv2Ur pic.twitter.com/mASWAw5206
— designboom (@designboom) February 2, 2023
Anish Kapoor: Website | Instagram | Twitter
h/t: [ARTnews, Curbed]
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