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''Crown Fountain'' is an interactive work of
public art Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically acce ...
and
video sculpture A video sculpture is a type of video installation that integrates video into an object, environment, site or performance. The nature of video sculpture is that it utilizes the material of video in an innovative way in space and time, different from ...
featured in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
's
Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center ne ...
, which is located in the
Loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, an ...
community area. Designed by Spanish artist
Jaume Plensa Jaume Plensa i Suñé (; born 23 August 1955) is a Spanish visual artist, sculptor, designer and engraver. He is a versatile artist who has also created opera sets, video projections and acoustic installations. He worked with renowned Catalan t ...
and executed by
Krueck and Sexton Architects Krueck Sexton Partners (formerly Krueck + Sexton Architects) is an architecture practice in Chicago, Illinois, United States, founded by Ron Krueck and Mark Sexton in 1979. Tom Jacobs was named the third principal in 2011 and now serves as one of ...
, it opened in July 2004. The fountain is composed of a black
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...
reflecting pool placed between a pair of
glass brick Glass brick, also known as glass block, is an architectural element made from glass. The appearance of glass blocks can vary in color, size, texture and form. Glass bricks provide visual obscuration while admitting light. The modern glass block w ...
towers. The towers are tall, and they use
light-emitting diode A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
s (LEDs) to display digital videos on their inward faces. Construction and design of the ''Crown Fountain'' cost $17 million. The water operates from May to October, intermittently cascading down the two towers and spouting through a nozzle on each tower's front face. Residents and critics have praised the fountain for its artistic and entertainment features. It highlights Plensa's
themes Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...
of dualism, light, and water, extending the use of video technology from his prior works. Its use of water is unique among Chicago's many fountains, in that it promotes physical interaction between the public and the water. Both the fountain and Millennium Park are highly accessible because of their
universal design Universal design is the design of buildings, products or environments to make them accessible to people, regardless of age, disability or other factors. It addresses common barriers to participation by creating things that can be used by the ma ...
. ''Crown Fountain'' has been one of the most controversial of all the Millennium Park features. Before it was even built, some were concerned that the sculpture's height violated the aesthetic tradition of the park. After construction, surveillance cameras were installed atop the fountain, which led to a public outcry (and their quick removal). However, the fountain has survived its contentious beginnings to find its way into Chicago pop culture. It is a popular subject for photographers and a common gathering place. While some of the videos displayed are of scenery, most attention has focused on its video clips of local residents. The fountain is a public play area and offers people an escape from summer heat, allowing children to frolic in the fountain's water.


Concept and design

Grant Park, which is between
Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
and the
central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
, is commonly called "Chicago's Front Yard". Its northwest corner had been
Illinois Central The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also c ...
rail yards and parking lots until 1997, when it was made available for development by the city as
Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center ne ...
. Millennium Park was conceived in 1998 as the capstone of Grant Park, to celebrate the new millennium and to feature world-renowned architects, artists, designers, landscape architects, and urban planners. As of 2007, Millennium Park trails only
Navy Pier Navy Pier is a pier on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, located in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Navy Pier encompasses over of parks, gardens, shops, restaurants, family ...
as a Chicago tourist attraction. The fountain is centrally located in Chicago: it is east of Michigan Avenue and its
Historic Michigan Boulevard District The Historic Michigan Boulevard District is a historic district in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States encompassing Michigan Avenue between 11th (1100 south in the street numbering system) or Roosevelt ...
, north of Monroe Street and the
Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...
; and south of Madison Street. Looking north from the fountain, viewers see some of the
tallest buildings in the United States The world's first skyscraper was built in Chicago in 1885. Since then, the United States has been home to some of the world's tallest skyscrapers. New York City, specifically the borough of Manhattan, notably has the tallest skyline in the cou ...
( Aon Center,
Two Prudential Plaza The Two Prudential Plaza is a 64-story skyscraper located in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. At tall, it is currently the sixth-tallest building in Chicago and the 28th-tallest in the U.S., being only five feet from 1,000 feet, making ...
, and
One Prudential Plaza One Prudential Plaza (formerly known as the Prudential Building) is a 41-story structure in Chicago completed in 1955 as the headquarters for Prudential's Mid-America company. It was the first skyscraper built in Chicago since the Great Dep ...
).


Selection of artist

In December 1999,
Lester Crown Lester Crown (born June 7, 1925) is an American businessman and is the son of Chicago financier Henry Crown (died 1990), who created the Material Service Corporation with two brothers in 1919, which merged with General Dynamics in 1959. Crown h ...
and his family agreed to sponsor a
water feature In landscape architecture and garden design, a water feature is one or more items from a range of fountains, jeux d'eau, pools, ponds, rills, artificial waterfalls, and streams. Before the 18th century they were usually powered by gravity, tho ...
in
Millennium Park Millennium Park is a public park located in the Loop community area of Chicago, operated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. The park, opened in 2004 and intended to celebrate the third millennium, is a prominent civic center ne ...
. Unlike other park feature sponsors, the Crowns acted independently of Millennium Park officials; they conducted independent surveys of water technologies, held their own informal design contest, and stayed active in the design and engineering of the project.Gilfoyle, pp. 278–280. The Crowns were open-minded about the choice of artist; wanting a modern work, they solicited proposals from a list of prospective artists and architects. Jaume Plensa researched the traditions and history of fountains and studied
anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
in fountain imagery. Some of his early ideas for the project referenced
Buckingham Fountain Buckingham Fountain is a Chicago Landmark in the center of Grant Park, between Queen's Landing and Ida B. Wells Drive. Dedicated in 1927 and donated to the city by philanthropist Kate S. Buckingham, it is one of the largest fountains in the wo ...
, but these were soon abandoned.Gilfoyle, p. 288. His presentation to the Crown family started with a slide show of fountains from the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
through the 20th century. Plensa focused on the philosophical meanings associated with fountains, their history, use and art.Gilfoyle, p. 287. His presentation included
computer animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images ( moving images), while computer animation re ...
of facial expressions. The other finalists were
Maya Lin Maya Ying Lin (born October 5, 1959) is an American designer and sculptor. In 1981, while an undergraduate at Yale University, she achieved national recognition when she won a national design competition for the planned Vietnam Veterans Memoria ...
, who presented a low-height horizontal form, and
Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with h ...
, who presented a fountain that would have been tall. In January 2000, Plensa won the commission to design the fountain over Lin and Venturi.Gilfoyle, p. 280. The installation is a video sculpture, commissioned to operate thirty years.


Artistic design

Prior to ''Crown Fountain'', Plensa's dominant theme had been dualism, which he had expanded to artworks in which the viewers are outside, and the visible subjects of the art are inside containers and hollow spaces. In the 1990s, he completed several outdoor sculptures in which he explored the use of light (''The Star of David'' (1998) at
Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...
's Raoul Wallenberg Square, ''Bridge of Light'' (1998) in Jerusalem), and LED technology, video, and computer design (''Gläserne Seele & Mr. Net'' in Brandenburg (1999–2000)). In his public art, Plensa challenged himself to involve the viewer with his art, which led to his conception of the ''Crown Fountain''. His objective was to create a socially relevant, interactive fountain for the 21st century.Gilfoyle, p. 285. Since water is the focus of a fountain, and since Chicago, and especially Millennium Park, is so greatly affected by the nearby waterfront, Plensa sought to create an eternal water work to complement the local natural inspirations. Because of the colder winters common to the climate of Chicago, Plensa created a fountain that would remain vibrant when the water was inactive in the wintertime, so the fountain is an experience of light themes and the use of video technology. Plensa explores dualism with ''Crown Fountain'', where he has two randomly selected faces "conversing" with each other. Plensa feels that by using faces, he can represent the diversity of the city both in ethnicity and in age. The artist intends to portray the
sociocultural evolution Sociocultural evolution, sociocultural evolutionism or social evolution are theories of sociobiology and cultural evolution that describe how societies and culture change over time. Whereas sociocultural development traces processes that te ...
of the city by updating the collection of images. His representation has become a part of the city's pop culture; the first few episodes of the first season of ''
Prison Break ''Prison Break'' is an American serial drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox. The series revolves around two brothers, Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell) and Michael Scofield ( Wentworth Miller); Burrows has been sentenced ...
'' featured shots of the fountain. Plensa feels that the challenge in the creation of successful work of
public art Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically acce ...
is to integrate the viewer into an interactive relationship with the art. The fountain is known for encouraging its visitors to splash and slide in the reflecting pool, jostle for position under the water spout and place themselves under the cascade. This interactivity was to some degree accidental. Although the city planned for some interactivity, the transformation of the fountain into a water park for kids within hours of opening surprised Plensa. Now, when the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...
issues summer heat advisories and the
Governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois, and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by p ...
declares state office buildings as official daytime
cooling center A cooling center is an air-conditioned public space set up by local authorities to temporarily deal with the health effects of extreme heat weather conditions, like the ones caused by heat waves. Cooling centers are meant to prevent hyperthermia ca ...
s, the national press points to ''Crown Fountain'' as a respite for inhabitants of the
Chicago metropolitan area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hin ...
.


Video production

Approximately 75 ethnic, social, and religious Chicago organizations were asked to provide candidates whose faces would be photographed for integration into the fountain. The subjects were chosen from local schools, churches and community groups, and filming began in 2001 at the downtown campus of the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...
(SAIC). The SAIC students filmed their subjects with a $100,000 high-definition
HDW-F900 CineAlta cameras are a series of professional digital movie cameras produced by Sony that replicate many of the same features of 35 mm movie film, 35mm film Movie camera, motion picture cameras. Concept CineAlta is a brand name used by Sony t ...
video camera A video camera is an optical instrument that captures videos (as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film). Video cameras were initially developed for the television industry but have since become widely used for a variety of oth ...
, the same model used in the production of the three ''
Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...
'' prequels. About 20 SAIC students took part in what became an informal master's course in
public art Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically acce ...
for the project.Sharoff, p. 85 Faculty from
Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and gradua ...
was also involved in the production of the video. The high-definition equipment was used because of the scale of the project. Because the image proportions were like a movie screen with a width far exceeding its height, the camera was turned on its side during filming. Each face appears on the sculpture for a total of 5 minutes using various parts of individual 80-second videos. A 40-second section is played at one-third speed forward and backward, running for a total of 4 minutes. Then, there is a subsequent segment, where the mouth is puckering, that is stretched to 15 seconds. This is followed by a section, in which the water appears to spout from the open mouth, that is stretched to last for 30 seconds. Finally, there is a smile after the completion of the water spouting from the mouth, that is slowed to extend for 15 seconds. Of the original 1,051 subjects filmed, 960 videos were determined to be usable for the project. Originally, the set of images was presumed to be the beginning of a work in progress, but as of 2009 no additional videos are planned. To achieve the effect in which water appears to be flowing from subjects' mouths, each video has a segment where the subject's lips are puckered, which is then timed to correspond to the spouting water, reminiscent of
gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry wa ...
fountains. Each face is cropped so that no hair and usually no ears are visible. Since there is no tripod designed for cameras turned on their sides, an adjustable barber/dentist's chair was used to minimize the need for the movement of the state-of-the-art camera during filming. Nonetheless, in some case, digital manipulation was necessary to properly simulate puckering in the exact proper location on the video. Many of the faces had to be stretched in order to get the mouths properly positioned. Additionally, each video was color-corrected for brightness, contrast and color saturation. Both the playback equipment and the final videos had to be further adjusted to account for sunlight during viewing.


Construction and engineering

The Crown family, for whom the fountain is named, donated $10 million of the $17 million construction and design cost. The Goodman family, known for funding the
Goodman Theatre Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the la ...
, was also a large contributor; the entire $17 million cost was provided by private donations. The initial proposed cost for the fountain had been $15 million. After two architectural firms refused the contract to make Plensa's design a reality, the firm Krueck + Sexton Architects accepted. Public art was a departure from Krueck & Sexton's residential and corporate office-dominated portfolio, which includes buildings like the Spertus Institute. Collaboration between the artist, architectural team, and consultants proved to be crucial to the success of the project. The fountain's black granite reflecting pool measures and has an approximate water depth of . It displays videos on two LED screens, each encapsulated in a glass brick tower measuring . The firm designed a special
stainless steel Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's r ...
T-frame both to bear the load of the walls, which are high, and to withstand lateral wind forces. The frame holds all the glass blocks and transfers the load to the base in a zigzag pattern. Rods measuring in diameter anchor to the structure and project into the frame for lateral stability, while triangular corner brackets add support. After several dozen glass manufacturing firms were interviewed, L. E. Smith Glass Company emerged as the company to produce 22,500 glass blocks near the upper limit of the size of press glass formed from hand-poured molten glass and
cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...
molds.Sharoff, 75 The process used sand and
soda ash Sodium carbonate, , (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals) is the inorganic compound with the formula Na2CO3 and its various hydrates. All forms are white, odourless, water-soluble salts that yield moderately alkaline solutions ...
heated to a temperature of and "gathered" with a large clay ball resembling a
honey dipper A honey dipper is a kitchen utensil used to collect viscous liquid (generally honey) from a container, which it then exudes to another location. It is often made of turned wood. Besides the handle, the tool consists of equally spaced grooves. ...
. Rather than use a standard plunger to ensure the glass that sagged off the rod spread to the corners of the mold, they relied on gravity. The full mold was annealed (reheated in an oven to ) and cooled.Sharoff, 76 Over the course of four months of production,Sharoff, p. 79 about 350 blocks were produced per day. The glass was custom-made at a factory in
Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania Mount Pleasant is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States. It stands 45 miles (72 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, the borough's population was 4,454 ...
, and shipped to the structural glass panel manufacturer in Melbourne, Florida. The panels were then shipped by truck to Chicago. The glass is white glass, rather than the usual green glass that results from
iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
impurities. This has the tradeoff of increased image clarity, but greater dirt visibility. Each block is with glass thin enough to avoid image distortion. On each block, one of the six faces is polished, and the other five surfaces are textured. The structure for the blocks was a challenge. At first, the design team had considered switching to plastic blocks, until the team found Circle Redmont Inc., a prefabricated glass panel company in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Florida which specializes in structural glass panel systems. Circle Redmont came up with the plan of turning grates on their sides to be used as building elements. The individual grids are tall and either or wide with cell capacity of an average of 250 blocks. Each tower is composed of 44 grids stacked and welded. The combination of the
refraction In physics, refraction is the redirection of a wave as it passes from one medium to another. The redirection can be caused by the wave's change in speed or by a change in the medium. Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomeno ...
of the glass and the thinness of the metal make the grid virtually invisible. The fountain uses per hour, 97% of which is recycled back into the system.Sharoff, p. 86 Getting the water to the spout took ingenuity. Although consideration was given to omitting a LED tile, it was determined that the images would then look as though they were each missing a tooth. Instead, one tile in each tower is recessed about to allow the installation of clear tubing for the water nozzle. The water regularly spills over the fountain and down the sides of the towers and intermittently spouts from the nozzle. Two essential custom fittings contribute to the artistic vision of the fountain: a custom glass block at the upper edge for guiding the water's descent while remaining unobtrusive, and a plastic nozzle fitted to the stainless steel frame to control the rate of water flow and reduce liability to the city for any injuries sustained by the fountain's interactive participants. The interactive participants are usually children playing in the stream from the water spout or under the cascade. The risk that the spouting water would knock people down made the design both a legal and a physical challenge. The fountains use over one million LEDs.Gilfoyle, p. 277. The inner surface of each tower uses 147 smaller screens with a total of 264,480 LED points (each with two red, one blue and two green LEDs).Sharoff, p. 82 The physical demands of LED screens, in particular the red, green, and blue long-life light bulbs and the requisite
circuitry An electronic circuit is composed of individual electronic components, such as resistors, transistors, capacitors, inductors and diodes, connected by conductive wires or traces through which electric current can flow. It is a type of electrical ...
, created three major challenges: supporting the physical structure, combating heat buildup, and optimizing perceptibility of the display. Plensa had used LED fixtures on previous projects, and thus had some experience with these issues. The LED structure is not supported as a single wall (which would be high), but rather as several segments that are noticeable as visible horizontal bands every few feet: these show where the LED equipment is supported. The heat generated is handled by fans that cool the air at the bottom, that then works its way through the chimney-like tower. Perceptibility was determined to be optimal with
LED lights An LED lamp or LED light bulb is an electric light that produces light using light-emitting diodes (LEDs). LED lamps are significantly more energy-efficient than equivalent incandescent lamps and can be significantly more efficient than mos ...
behind the glass. LEDs were chosen because they were viewed as the lowest maintenance option of the possible color changing fixtures. LEDs fit into an electrical circuit, causing illumination by the movement of
electron The electron ( or ) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary electric charge. Electrons belong to the first generation of the lepton particle family, and are generally thought to be elementary particles because they have no kn ...
s in the
semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...
material and making a filament unnecessary, so the bulbs never burn out and do not get too hot. Fins were added to the screens to keep direct sunlight from hitting the LEDs. Color Kinetics (now part of Philips Solid-State Lighting Solutions, which is now called Philips Color Kinetics) ColorBlast 12 LEDs fixtures are used to illuminate the tower structures and glass in an attempt to meet Plensa's objective that the towers have a light and translucent appearance, with their internal structures reflecting light from behind the glass surface. The electronics were designed to be adaptable to the time of day, weather and season and to meet the desired century-long longevity and dependability objectives set by the design team in response to the thirty-year directive. The pool used pavers that weigh . The pavers were rested on
screw jack A jackscrew, or screw jack, is a type of jack that is operated by turning a leadscrew. It is commonly used to lift moderately and heavy weights, such as vehicles; to raise and lower the horizontal stabilizers of aircraft; and as adjustable sup ...
pedestals in order to be leveled and shimmed. The pavers had to be perfectly leveled for the water to work correctly because the fountain incorporates numerous sensors to regulate the flow and level of the water. During construction the underground parking garage remained open. An additional challenge was designing the structure to facilitate interior access for ongoing maintenance and repairs, while accommodating two levels of underground parking underneath. The challenge was solved by combining a T-bar grid to absorb weight with about 150 "outriggers", or "tiebacks", inserted through the video wall to support the glass blocks and absorb wind loads. This design allows for the removal of individual glass blocks for cleaning or repair without disruption to the display. The filtered air inside the towers helps minimize the need for cleaning. ''Crown Fountains design not only included interior access for technical repairs, but also incorporated exemplary, non-discriminatory,
barrier-free Universal design is the design of buildings, products or environments to make them accessible to people, regardless of age, disability or other factors. It addresses common barriers to participation by creating things that can be used by the ma ...
accessibility, because its interactivity is not limited to the able-bodied. The
force In physics, a force is an influence that can change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (e.g. moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate. Force can also be described intuitively as a p ...
of the water accounts for the entire range of possible interactive visitors.


Dedication and operation


Unveiling

Construction of the video sculpture was completed for testing without the fountain's water features on May 18, 2004. Originally, Plensa had planned to have each face appear for 13 minutes, and this continued to be the targeted duration when the testing of the sculpture occurred. Eventually, professors at the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...
convinced him to use only five-minute videos. Plensa's design of ''Crown Fountain'' was unveiled to the public on July 16–18, during the 2004 grand opening celebrations for Millennium Park. At the time of the unveiling, ''Crown Fountain'', like the nearby ''
Cloud Gate ''Cloud Gate'' is a public sculpture by Indian-born British artist Anish Kapoor, that is the centerpiece of AT&T Plaza at Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The sculpture and AT&T Plaza are located on top of Pa ...
'', was incomplete because only 300 of the videos had been refined for public display. It was officially dedicated on July 24, 2004 as part of a special private fundraising party that raised $3 million for the Millennium Park Conservancy fund.


Operation

The control center for the synchronization of images, water flow, and lighting color and intensity is beneath one of the towers, in a room that covers . The room houses
high-definition video High-definition video (HD video) is video of higher resolution and quality than standard-definition. While there is no standardized meaning for ''high-definition'', generally any video image with considerably more than 480 vertical scan lines (No ...
servers and equipment temperature sensors. Hard drives contain all the individual electronic computer files of the face videos. Generally, the computer programs automatically perform tasks such as determining when the face will pucker and, if weather conditions permit, when to turn the water on and off. Using low- rather than high-
resolution Resolution(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate * Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body * New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...
images was both less expensive and created a better display for the average viewer. A Barco
show control Show control is the use of automation technology to link together and operate multiple entertainment control systems in a coordinated manner. It is distinguished from an entertainment control system, which is specific to a single theatrical depart ...
ler selects the sequence of faces one at a time and determines a random tower lighting selection of one of eight LED colors programmed into an Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC) Emphasis control system. At night, the ETC system controls
spotlight Spotlight or spot light may refer to: Lighting * Spot lights, automotive auxiliary lamps * Spotlight (theatre lighting) * Spotlight, a searchlight * Stage lighting instrument, stage lighting instruments, of several types Art, entertainment, an ...
s that illuminate the cascading water and that are dimmed by special wet-use location
ground fault circuit interrupter A residual-current device (RCD), residual-current circuit breaker (RCCB) or ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) is an electrical safety device that quickly breaks an electrical circuit with leakage current to ground. It is to protect equi ...
s. The control room covers an area equal to 26 parking spaces in the underground parking garage, which costs the city $100,000 annually in terms of the
opportunity cost In microeconomic theory, the opportunity cost of a particular activity is the value or benefit given up by engaging in that activity, relative to engaging in an alternative activity. More effective it means if you chose one activity (for example ...
of lost revenue (in 2004 dollars). Maintenance issues for the fountain range from kids removing the adhesive between the bricks to pipes in need of maintenance. , annual upkeep costs were approximately $400,000. Typically, the fountain's water features function between mid-spring and mid-fall, but the images remain on the screen year-round.


Video sculpture

The front face of each tower is
animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...
with a continuous, dynamic exhibit of lights and electronic images. Although the screens on the towers periodically display clips of
landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...
s such as waterfalls, most intriguing are the display of faces of Chicago residents. About 1,000 faces of Chicagoans are shown in a random rotation, the order determined using a Barco show controller. Each face is displayed for five minutes, with a brief period between each of these videos during which the sculpture is unlit. As a result, no more than 12 faces appear per hour during the summer. However, during the winter a version without the final one minute of puckering is shown, so the video segments then are only four minutes each. The video pattern also includes a three-minute water scene every half-hour and a 30-second fade-to-black every 15 minutes. If all the faces were shown consecutively, instead of randomly, they would each appear about once every eight days. A June 2007 article in the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' reported that many of the subjects who had their images
digitized DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer- ...
for the project had yet to either see their own images or hear of anyone who had seen them. The spouting water from the faces of the towers appears to be flowing from the displayed subject's mouth from a nozzle located in the center of each interior face above the reflecting pool. Images are shown daily year-round, while the water feature only operates from May 1 to approximately October 31, weather permitting. The park is open to the public daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Each tower is illuminated from within on three sides by approximately 70 color-changing
Color Kinetics Signify N.V., formerly known as Philips Lighting N.V., is a Dutch multinational lighting corporation formed in 2016 as a result of the spin-off of the lighting division of Philips, by means of an I.P.O. The company manufactures electric lights ...
LED lighting fixtures per tower, while the fourth side features opposing Barco LED display screens. At night, some of the videos are replaced by images of nature or solid colors. Also at night, the other three sides of the fountain display changing colors. The outer Color Kinetics surfaces randomly display the
translucent In the field of optics, transparency (also called pellucidity or diaphaneity) is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material without appreciable scattering of light. On a macroscopic scale (one in which the dimensions a ...
glow of one of eight colors along with each of the inner opposing faces. As a
video sculpture A video sculpture is a type of video installation that integrates video into an object, environment, site or performance. The nature of video sculpture is that it utilizes the material of video in an innovative way in space and time, different from ...
with a variety of cascade and water spout fountain modes, the sculpture is a fluid, dynamic evolving artwork.


Fountain

''Crown Fountain'' has both slits and a grate for
drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess of water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils is good enough to prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditio ...
(pictured above right) to drain the of water per minute. When the videos are not on the front of the tower, water cascades down each of the facades. The water is filtered, pumped and recirculated through the fountain. Dual pump rooms below each tower draw water from a reservoir beneath the reflecting pool. There are 12 mechanical pumps that are regulated from a control room in the underground parking garage beneath the south tower of the fountain. The water in the reflecting pool has a depth of about .


Controversies

Before the fountain was completed in 2004, Art Institute of Chicago president James Wood felt the columns would be too tall and other community leaders felt that the height and scale of the project stemmed from a "pissing contest" with other park feature artists.Gilfoyle, pp. 290–291. Grant Park has been protected since 1836 by "forever open, clear and free" legislation that has been affirmed by four previous
Illinois Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ap ...
rulings.
Aaron Montgomery Ward Aaron Montgomery Ward (February 17, 1843 or 1844 – December 7, 1913) was an American entrepreneur based in Chicago who made his fortune through the use of mail order for retail sales of general merchandise to rural customers. In 1872 he founde ...
twice sued the city of Chicago in the 1890s to force it to remove buildings and structures from Grant Park, and to keep it from building new ones. As a result, the city has what are termed the Montgomery Ward height restrictions on buildings and structures in Grant Park. However, ''Crown Fountain'' and
Jay Pritzker Pavilion Jay Pritzker Pavilion, also known as Pritzker Pavilion or Pritzker Music Pavilion, is a bandshell in Millennium Park in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located on the south side of Randolph Str ...
, which stands tall, were exempt from the height restriction because they were classified as
works of art A work of art, artwork, art piece, piece of art or art object is an artistic creation of aesthetic value. Except for "work of art", which may be used of any work regarded as art in its widest sense, including works from literature ...
and not buildings or structures. In November 2006, ''Crown Fountain'' became the focus of a public controversy when the city added
surveillance camera A closed-circuit television camera can produce images or recordings for surveillance or other private purposes. Cameras can be either video cameras, or digital stills cameras. Walter Bruch was the inventor of the CCTV camera. The main purpose o ...
s atop each tower. Purchased through a $52 million
Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries. Its stated missions involve anti-terr ...
grant Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...
to the Chicago area, the cameras were part of a surveillance system augmenting eight other cameras covering all of Millennium Park. The city said the cameras, similar to those used throughout the city at high-crime areas and traffic intersections, were intended to remain on the towers for several months until permanent, less intrusive replacements were secured. City officials had consulted the architects who collaborated with Plensa on the tower designs, but Plensa himself had not been notified. Public reaction was negative, as bloggers and the artistic community decried the cameras on the towers as inappropriate and a blight. The city said that the cameras were largely for security reasons, but also partly to help park officials monitor burnt-out lights. The ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' quickly published an article concerning the cameras as well as the public reaction, and the cameras were removed the next day. Plensa supported their removal.


Updating

In 2014, the hardware and software behind the fountain's operation were replaced. At the time there were plans to replace LED lighting with
incandescent bulb An incandescent light bulb, incandescent lamp or incandescent light globe is an electric light with a wire filament heated until it glows. The filament is enclosed in a glass bulb with a vacuum or inert gas to protect the filament from oxida ...
s on each of the non-video display surfaces and to replace the video surface LEDs. Plensa, who maintained control of the video faces for the first two years of the fountain's operation, understands that future generations may wish to update the faces used in the rotation of videos to reflect changes in humanity going forward. In 2014, an additional 1000 faces were anticipated for 2016.


Critical reception

''Crown Fountain'', ''
Trevi Fountain The Trevi Fountain ( it, Fontana di Trevi) is an 18th-century fountain in the Trevi district in Rome, Italy, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini and several others. Standing high and wide, it is the larg ...
'', and ''Buckingham Fountain'', as well as natural water features such as
Old Faithful Old Faithful is a cone geyser in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, United States. It was named in 1870 during the Washburn–Langford–Doane Expedition and was the first geyser in the park to be named. It is a highly predictable geotherma ...
, are examples of the ability of water to attract people and hold their attention. ''Crown Fountain'' has more interactivity than other Chicago fountains, such as ''Buckingham Fountain'' and
Lorado Taft Lorado Zadok Taft (April 29, 1860, in Elmwood, Illinois – October 30, 1936, in Chicago) was an American sculptor, writer and educator. His 1903 book, ''The History of American Sculpture,'' was the first survey of the subject and stood for decad ...
's ''
Fountain of the Great Lakes ''Fountain of the Great Lakes'', or ''Spirit of the Great Lakes Fountain'', is an allegorical sculpture and fountain by Lorado Taft. The bronze artwork, created between 1907 and 1913, depicts five women arranged so that the fountains waterfall r ...
'' and ''
Fountain of Time ''Fountain of Time'', or simply ''Time'', is a sculpture by Lorado Taft, measuring in length, situated at the western edge of the Midway Plaisance within Washington Park in Chicago, Illinois, in the United States. The sculpture is inspired ...
'' (all but the last are in Grant Park). These other Chicago fountains are traditional in that they discourage viewer touching; ''Buckingham Fountain'' is surrounded by a fence, and Taft's fountains are surrounded by
moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...
s. In contrast, ''Crown Fountain'' provides an open invitation to play in the fountain's water.Gilfoyle, p. 291. '' U.S. News & World Report'' describes the fountain as an exemplary feature of the city's numerous urban parks. ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' architecture critic
Blair Kamin Blair Kamin was the architecture critic of the ''Chicago Tribune'', for 28 years from 1992 to 2021. Kamin has held other jobs at the Tribune and previously worked for ''The Des Moines Register''. He also serves as a contributing editor of ''Archit ...
, who is pleased with the sculptures' verticalness, says the fountain helps appropriately depict the modern 21st-century urban park. The ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' describes the fountain as "eye-catching, crowd-friendly ... high-tech ndnbsp;... contemporary". The ''New York Times'' calls the fountain an "extraordinary art object". ''
Frommer's Frommer's is a travel guide book series created by Arthur Frommer in 1957. Frommer's has since expanded to include more than 350 guidebooks in 14 series, as well as other media including an eponymous radio show and a website. In 2017, the company ...
'' describes the fountain as public art at its best. The beauty of the fountain is, as the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
'' explains, that it is
high-concept High concept is a type of artistic work that can be easily pitched with a succinctly stated premise. It can be contrasted with ''low concept'', which is more concerned with character development and other subtleties that are not as easily summa ...
art for all to enjoy. The ''
Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' refers to the fountain as a "techno-fountain". The fountain is praised for its technical features by industry magazines and has won various awards. The project won the 2006 Bombay Sapphire prize for its design work with glass. Critical reviews were not unanimous in their praise. One ''Chicago Tribune'' critic was not impressed with JumboTron-like art, although he conceded the participatory element reminded him in a positive way of the
jungle gym A jungle gym (called a climbing frame in British English) is a piece of playground equipment made of many pieces of material, such as metal pipes or ropes, on which participants can climb, hang, sit, and—in some configurations—slide. Monkey ...
element of the ''
Chicago Picasso The Chicago Picasso (often just ''The Picasso'') is an untitled monumental sculpture by Pablo Picasso in Daley Plaza in Chicago, Illinois. ''The Picasso'' "precipitated an aesthetic shift in civic and urban planning, broadening the idea of public ...
''. The fountain is featured on the cover of Philip Jodidio's 2005 book, ''Architecture: Art''. Although Plensa is considered to be a
conceptual artist Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called instal ...
, according to Jodidio, Plensa created a work whose architectural aspects are paramount. Its location juxtaposed with the Historic Michigan Boulevard District's skywall highlights these aspects. Jodidio considers the work to be a modernization of the gargoyle theme, and feels that the scale of the enlarged faces humanize the work and challenges the architecture. The towers are an integral part of the skyline that have achieved rare permanence for contemporary art.Jodidio, p. 162 Crown Fountain, Millennium Park.jpg, Crown Fountain, Millennium Park night photo Crown Fountain Millennium park View 2.jpg, Crown Fountain, Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois


See also

* Crystal Fountains *
List of public art in Chicago The city of Chicago, Illinois, is home to many notable works of public art on permanent display in an outdoor public space. References External links * {{Public art in the United States Art, Public Chicag ...


Notes


References

* * *


External links


City of Chicago Millennium ParkMillennium Park mapCity of Chicago Loop Community MapPhotos of controversial surveillance cameras in initial critical
blogpost
''Crown Fountain'' archives
at ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
'' {{Coord, 41, 52, 53.34, N, 87, 37, 25.44, W, region:US_type:landmark_scale:1000, display=title Millennium Park Outdoor sculptures in Chicago 2004 sculptures American contemporary art Contemporary works of art Fountains in Illinois Glass architecture Glass works of art Interactive art Video art Buildings and structures celebrating the third millennium Buildings and structures completed in 2004 Buildings and structures in Chicago Sculptures by Jaume Plensa 2004 establishments in Illinois