As far as I know, there are now at least two mercury-like and bean-like public art sculptures in the US by Anish Kapoor. The first is, of course, in Chicago's Millennium Park (pictured above). Commonly referred to as just "The Bean", the sculpture was dedicated in 2006 and, since then, has gained international fame as a solid place to take a selfie.
But as of this year, there is now a second "mini-bean" in New York's Tribeca neighborhood. Sitting literally underneath 56 Leonard (a residential tower designed by Herzog & de Meuron), this bean varietal was first announced in 2008, but has taken a few years to be completed. The building itself was completed about 5 five years ago.
It turns out though, that all beans are not made equal. Here's some initial feedback from Bloomberg CityLab's Kristin Capps:
New York’s half-bean feels half-baked: a disappointing imitation for the city and a franchise play by the artist. For New York to install the lesser version of a Chicago icon reeks of second-city status. And while the original sculpture is still a treasure, the second iteration feels like a monument from 20 years ago — because it is.
But it's all perception. If Chicago's bean had never been unveiled in 2006, and this was the first shiny urban selfie bean, then I'm sure we'd all be headed to Lower Manhattan with our phones. But instead, here we are talking about how it "reeks of second-city status" and how it is the "eyesore that no one asked for".
It's all very fascinating if you think about it. And it's a perfect example of why blockchains are proving to be so valuable in the world of art. Because with art, provenance and authenticity are everything. You need to know where it came from, who made it, and that it's scarce. And as we can see here, it can be the difference between loving a bean and hating a bean.
Photo by Wicker Woodsong on Unsplash
Here is an interesting chart from the New York Times explaining the disproportionate impact that highway and urban renewal projects have had on non-white families in the US. The x-axis is the non-white population share in 1950. And the y-axis is the percentage of displaced families that were non-white. What this means is that the diagonal dotted line through the middle represents a kind of racially balanced displacement.
As far as I know, there are now at least two mercury-like and bean-like public art sculptures in the US by Anish Kapoor. The first is, of course, in Chicago's Millennium Park (pictured above). Commonly referred to as just "The Bean", the sculpture was dedicated in 2006 and, since then, has gained international fame as a solid place to take a selfie.
But as of this year, there is now a second "mini-bean" in New York's Tribeca neighborhood. Sitting literally underneath 56 Leonard (a residential tower designed by Herzog & de Meuron), this bean varietal was first announced in 2008, but has taken a few years to be completed. The building itself was completed about 5 five years ago.
It turns out though, that all beans are not made equal. Here's some initial feedback from Bloomberg CityLab's Kristin Capps:
New York’s half-bean feels half-baked: a disappointing imitation for the city and a franchise play by the artist. For New York to install the lesser version of a Chicago icon reeks of second-city status. And while the original sculpture is still a treasure, the second iteration feels like a monument from 20 years ago — because it is.
But it's all perception. If Chicago's bean had never been unveiled in 2006, and this was the first shiny urban selfie bean, then I'm sure we'd all be headed to Lower Manhattan with our phones. But instead, here we are talking about how it "reeks of second-city status" and how it is the "eyesore that no one asked for".
It's all very fascinating if you think about it. And it's a perfect example of why blockchains are proving to be so valuable in the world of art. Because with art, provenance and authenticity are everything. You need to know where it came from, who made it, and that it's scarce. And as we can see here, it can be the difference between loving a bean and hating a bean.
Photo by Wicker Woodsong on Unsplash
Here is an interesting chart from the New York Times explaining the disproportionate impact that highway and urban renewal projects have had on non-white families in the US. The x-axis is the non-white population share in 1950. And the y-axis is the percentage of displaced families that were non-white. What this means is that the diagonal dotted line through the middle represents a kind of racially balanced displacement.
This week AN announced its 2022 Best of Design Awards, which is intended to celebrate outstanding built and unbuilt architectural projects from around the world. And this year I am excited to share that Studio Gang was awarded two editors' picks: one for 11 Hoyt in Brooklyn (Built-Residential, Multi-Unit) and one for One Delisle here in Toronto (Unbuilt-Residential, Multi-Unit). Selfishly, it of course makes me very happy to see our project being celebrated for its architecture. Go team! But from a less selfish perspective, it also makes me very happy to see Toronto being recognized in these awards. Because this is about city building, right?
However, as you can tell from the graph, displacement from 1950 to 1966 was not balanced. In Providence, for example, only 3% of families were non-white in 1950. But these families represented 31% of the ones displaced for renewal projects. In Philadelphia, about 18% of families were non-white, but here they represented 71% of those displaced.
I don't think that this will be news to a lot of you. "Urban renewal" is a loaded term in American urbanism. But the article does do a great job of taking you back through time in cities like Houston, Chicago, and New York. The article is also by Adam Paul Susaneck, who is the founder of Segregation by Design. If you're interested in this topic, I would encourage you to check out his website.
This week AN announced its 2022 Best of Design Awards, which is intended to celebrate outstanding built and unbuilt architectural projects from around the world. And this year I am excited to share that Studio Gang was awarded two editors' picks: one for 11 Hoyt in Brooklyn (Built-Residential, Multi-Unit) and one for One Delisle here in Toronto (Unbuilt-Residential, Multi-Unit). Selfishly, it of course makes me very happy to see our project being celebrated for its architecture. Go team! But from a less selfish perspective, it also makes me very happy to see Toronto being recognized in these awards. Because this is about city building, right?
However, as you can tell from the graph, displacement from 1950 to 1966 was not balanced. In Providence, for example, only 3% of families were non-white in 1950. But these families represented 31% of the ones displaced for renewal projects. In Philadelphia, about 18% of families were non-white, but here they represented 71% of those displaced.
I don't think that this will be news to a lot of you. "Urban renewal" is a loaded term in American urbanism. But the article does do a great job of taking you back through time in cities like Houston, Chicago, and New York. The article is also by Adam Paul Susaneck, who is the founder of Segregation by Design. If you're interested in this topic, I would encourage you to check out his website.
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