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THE CROWN FOUNTAIN IS MISSING !
Dan Jacobson
December 14, 2004
I knew immediately something was amiss. On my daily morning walks past Millennium Park I had grown accustomed to how things looked. This early in the morning visitors are scarce so the reflection of the skyline in “Cloud Gate” is usually static. The only thing that changes is the background, either blue or gray. The Chicago winter had emptied the park of even the die-hard tourists and the only sound was of a worker chipping ice from the entrance of the otherwise silent ice rink. That’s it! The sound had changed! There is no water running! The Crown Fountain is missing!
Okay, so that’s a little melodramatic. The fountain is not exactly missing as much as it has been rendered invisible. The water has been turned off for the harsh Chicago winter and the fountain has been reduced to twin monolithic jumbotrons. So this is what the city gets for five months, or more. If the orange light of morning hits them just right it looks like you are approaching two giant Wheaties boxes. On a positive note, though, the wooden benches that run uninterrupted down each side of the artwork have finally been installed. Since no one will be sitting on them for months they can get a nice even aging before the crowds return in spring.
It is no secret that I think the city got less than it deserves from Jaume Plensa’s Crown Fountain. And, for the next few months it gets even less. Shouldn’t a multi-million dollar commissioned work of public art take into account the climate it is being place in? Shouldn’t it have features that can compensate for the fact that its effect is severely reduced by the harsh winter climate? Gone is the somewhat suspect reference to gargoyles. The only sonic element in the park when there is not a concert performance, the falling water, has disappeared. The reflective quality of the shallow pool surrounding the work is also gone. The only redeeming quality of the work during the winter is the fact that there are more overcast days, so the video isn’t constantly being washed out by sunshine as it is during the summer & fall months.
I could probably live with the fact that Chicago winters require compromise where some works of art are concerned. Except in this case the Crown Fountain also fails on other basic levels. A three-dimensional work should be strong when viewed from all sides. But the fountain’s towers, when viewed directly facing north or south, are, well, boring. Sometimes there is enough good light to make the translucent blocks interesting but mostly they look just like my basement windows, dull. Three side of dull on each tower. And, if the infrastructure is going to be visible it should be incorporated as a design element. Instead we see utilitarian looking scaffolding which is not completely masked even when the water is flowing. I guess that’s okay given that similar structures surround Loop buildings everywhere you look. But, it's hardly an interesting design element.
I should capitulate that I love Millennium Park. I’m just not fond of the Crown Fountain. Even less so now that one of its major elements is missing. I can only hope that as the trees surrounding the fountain mature and fill in that the fountain will become a more intimate, magical grove in the middle of a bustling metropolis. I guess I could love the work for its idiosyncrasies and perhaps I will as I live with it over time. It’s just that I see so many more interesting possibilities in the work. If only the artist had.
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