Crown Fountain, Millennium Park, Chicago

Crown Fountain, Millennium Park, Chicago

ABOUT.COM   The Crown Fountain, designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, is an extremely unique tribute to the people of Chicago. The artist was inspired by historic fountains that have gargoyles with water spouting out of their open mouths.

Plensa's version is made up of two 50 foot glass block towers that display rotating video images of 1,000 residents. The giant faces smile for a few minutes, then pucker their lips and a pipe embedded in the screen sends out a large stream of water, giving the illusion that the water is spouting out of their mouth. As a transition between faces, the tower goes black and a cascading waterfall comes raining down the sides.

From the Millenium Park website:

"The fountain consists of two 50-foot glass block towers at each end of a shallow reflecting pool. The towers project video images from a broad social spectrum of Chicago citizens, a reference to the traditional use of gargoyles in fountains, where faces of mythological beings were sculpted with open mouths to allow water, a symbol of life, to flow out. Plensa adapted this practice by having faces of Chicago citizens projected on LED screens and having water flow through a water outlet in the screen to give the illusion of water spouting from their mouths. The collection of faces, Plensa's tribute to Chicagoans, was taken from a cross-section of 1,000 residents.

"The fountain, which anchors the southwest corner of Millennium Park at Michigan Avenue and Monroe Streets, is a favorite of both children and families. The water is on from mid-spring through mid-fall each year (weather permitting,) while the images remain on year-round.

"A fountain is the memory of nature, this marvelous sound of a little river in the mountains translated to the city. For me, a fountain doesn't mean a big jet of water. It means humidity, the origin of life.
-Jaume Plensa"

See a video of the fountain here:   

From the Millenium Park website:

"The fountain consists of two 50-foot glass block towers at each end

of a shallow reflecting pool. The towers project video images from a

broad social spectrum of Chicago citizens, a reference to the

traditional use of gargoyles in fountains, where faces of mythological

beings were sculpted with open mouths to allow water, a symbol of

life, to flow out. Plensa adapted this practice by having faces of

Chicago citizens projected on LED screens and having water flow

through a water outlet in the screen to give the illusion of water

spouting from their mouths. The collection of faces, Plensa's tribute

to Chicagoans, was taken from a cross-section of 1,000 residents.

Love it!  i'd also like to see an abstract of just the two lips and fountain, but this is excellent as is...  Mike

This is great, and I love the reflection.  Very interesting fountain.  

Great work.  Thanks for the description.  Best Regards,

Hi Christal,

  Great image with wonderful colors & reflection.  Thanks for the history on this scene.  Take care, Patsy

An amazing feat I would say Christal!! A fine capture and of course, the story of this fountain is about as important as the image, THANKYOU!!!

This is just way too cool! 

Now that's creative thinking! Pretty damn cool fountain Christal! Thanks for sharing this, and the info!

All the best,
Neil

A great photo as an informative piece.  The description you included is interesting. Definitely someone else's artwork - but then you did not claim it as your own.  There is nothing else to say - I would not shoot it any other way just because it IS someone's else's intellectual property.

-Lynne

Intriguing image and an informative narrative to add to the fascination.  I wonder if there is a shot straight on that you could make a portrait orientation photo with that fills the frame, I also wonder if you could do the same with the reflection and turn it 180 degree and then mount them side by side. And I also wonder what this looks like at night, is it illuminated?. There just seems to be a wealth of photo opportunity here. But I think this initial image captures the scale and proximity to the surrounding buildings really well.

Very well done Christal!

Best Regards

Alf

Gee, thanks everyone for your visits and kind remarks.  I honestly didn't think this would generate much interest, although it's a must see if you're ever in Chicago.

Alf, I love seeing things through your eyes.....love your suggestions.  Unfortunately, I would have needed my waders to stand directly in front of it.  As you can see, there is a shallow pool of water.  There is another fountain exactly like it (with a different face) behind where I'm standing directly facing this fountain.  It is a very cool place!  Normally there would be crowds of people, but this was early in the season and still quite cold, so we were able to find a window of photo opportunity without any people.  As for night shots, I do think there are lights (in the ground), and I think the pixels themselves are illuminated.  We were actually going to go back in the evening, but after walking ALL day in Chicago, we were just too pooped.  Fortunately, we live close enough that we'll be able to get back often.   Thanks for your creative input!