Large stainless steel seamless welded sculpture - A dream of liquid mercury reflecting the city

A dream of liquid mercury reflecting the city

"Cloud Gate" is the most representative public sculpture by Anish Kapoor, located in the AT&T Plaza of Millennium Park in Chicago, USA. This work is famous for its unique oval shape and highly polished stainless - steel mirror surface. Its design inspiration comes from a drop of liquid mercury. The sculpture is composed of 168 seamlessly welded stainless - steel plates, 20 meters long, 10 meters high, and weighing 110 tons. Its smooth surface seamlessly reflects and distorts the Chicago city skyline and the floating clouds in the sky. Kapoor named it "Cloud Gate", meaning it is the "gateway to Chicago". It aims to integrate the architecture, the sky, and the viewers into the work, creating a constantly changing poetic scene.

"Cloud Gate" is not only a visual landmark but also a successful public interactive space. There is an arched space up to 3.7 meters high at its base, called the "omphalos". Visitors can walk into it and see their multiple reflected and distorted images, having an experience like being in a fun - house mirror maze. Since its completion in 2006, it has been affectionately called the "Bean" by Chicagoans and has become one of the most popular symbols of the city. This work also demonstrates extraordinary engineering technology. Its complex hyperbolic geometric structure and perfect surface without visible seams are regarded as a model of the combination of engineering and art.