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Yesterday a friend and I went to the Merchandise Mart, an easy walk from the train stations, on the north side of the river at Orleans St. Apart from what's in it, this is quite the impressive Art Deco building. Just to stroll its immenseness, to take in the ceilings, the exquisite bronze work on the doors and elevators, to walk the beautifully patterned floors, is a tour all by itself. It is in wonderful shape.
But we went for two things there now, the Buckminster Fuller exhibit, and the Dream Home rooms, both free. The Fuller exhibit is right inside the south door; you can't miss it. In case you don't know who Buckminster Fuller is, he was the man who designed all those geodesic domes as houses. My friend even knew of one in a Minneapolis suburb.
This one Fuller called "Fly's Eye Dome" because it does indeed resemble the compound lenses of a fly's eyes, as you can see. This is synthetic, stands 24 feet tall, made of 50 fiberglass sections, weighs 3,500 pounds, and is held together by about 1,050 stainless steel bolts, very visible. White outside, dark blue on the interior. These were supposed to be affordable, prefab homes, but I can't imagine living in one, although my friend said the one she knew was much larger. The huge holes are supposed to be filled with fiberglass windows. I suppose in a very private rural setting it might work.
But you can simply take it in for what it is here, a piece of sculpture. And walk inside if you want. Architecture and art.
As for the Dream Home rooms, the idea that anybody in their right mind would actually consider living in any one of these I find absurd. Over the top is an understatement. Although the bathroom was not toooo bad, I guess. All black and beige and ecru and bland, blah blah. Not to my taste at all. But like I said, it's free, and if you go, the woman at the door will give you a pass to many of the upper showroom floors, so you can browse them too. One floor was all it took for us, same-o, same-o. Although one item did catch our eye, a magnificent desk for the artist, architect, designer, to the tune of $14,000.
I can recommend Blue Fin, the restaurant right across the lobby from those rooms. We lingered there for some hours. Great food.
I am back from Lyon, and it was a wonderful trip. Well, how can you go wrong in France? But this blog is about Chicago, so I thought I might just add a few places to go that you might not have seen yet. First off is the Holocaust Museum in Skokie. I went there before I left, mainly to see the architecture, which is strange. One half of the building is black, one half white, and even more odd, it faces into the side of the hill creating the Edens Expressway, so that you cannot even stand back to really take a good look at it. It is the rear of the building that faces the parking lot, and little of that there is too. I took no pictures, it was a cold rainy thoroughly nasty day when we went. Inside,, at least during this first opening week, there was mostly nothing but videos, interminal videos, three hours worth, viewed one at a time at different stations throughout the museum. Granted they were hugely interesting, but after three hours my eyes were blury. And all the while we were standing. Personally, they could take all those short videos and turn them into one documentary that would be terrific.
Perhaps that was just opening week problems, and that by next year things will have gotten better. Although I fear the architecture is here to stay.
On the same day that I saw the fountain behind the AI finally working again, and I have posted pictures in the appropriate number for that piece of public art, I went to see the Art Institute's new wing and bridge, and all that. Unbeknownst to me, it was free day last Wednesday, and in fact all week, and let me tell you, the entire free world was there!!! And that's great! They were milling all over the place, and actually looking at the art. I saw people looking and studying pieces that most of us just pass by on our way to something else, me included. I even tried to get away from the masses in the farthest place I know, the glass paperweight room in a sub-basement, but they had discovered that too. We all love art, it seems; humanity has that much in common at least. Too bad it's so pricey, both to see and to own.
But the new Modern Wing is not really quite what it seems, for at least 50% of it is devoted to the new Education Center. It is huge, with three enormous classrooms, full of light from long, tall windows, plus smaller rooms and storage and workspaces, stuff. I was quite impressed. The main part has only added to the display space by about 30%, but that is a third and nothing to snivel at. Again, lots of natural light. I loved the main hall. But the bridge is something else again, I ventured out on it from the third floor and after a few feet, once I hit the end of the building, it started to wobble, like a suspension bridge. Although it was full of people coming and going, that was enough for me. I am not good with heights or wobbly bridges. Blair Kamin, the architectual critic for the Chicago Tribune mentioned this wobble, but he talked about it as only being in the middle. I suspect he crossed it when it was somewhat empty, not loaded with visitors.
But go for yourself. Better yet, get a membership, it's not very expensive, and for a single one, you can still take a guest and see all the extra shows; you can go any day the Museum is open. If you and a guest go two or three times a year (but go more often) it will have paid for itself. Needless to say, I love our Art Institute, go once a month, and never find it boring, although they do need to change the menu in the outside garden restaurant once in a while.
