Anish Kapoor, Artist, 1954, India

Cloud Gate, The Bean, The Black Bean

Taking advantage of his exclusive rights to make artistic use of the high-tech, light-absorbing material Vantablack, the British artist Anish Kapoor has covered the entire surface of his Chicago public sculpture “Cloud Gate” (2006) with it. The result, a looming black orb that neutralizes 99.965% of the radiation that hits it, is a far cry from the mirrored selfie beacon that Chicagoans and tourists have come to love.

“The public has had a decade to interact with the reflective surface of ‘Cloud Gate,’ and I felt it was time for a change,” Kapoor told Hyperallergic. “Whereas the sculpture was originally about play and surface appearance, I think the Vantablack version is more about introspection, about becoming disoriented, lost, and enveloped in an overwhelming void of nothingness.”

In spite of the artist’s existential ideas about the revamped sculpture, the change of tone doesn’t seem to have deterred the droves of selfie-snappers. Since the artwork’s re-unveiling on Monday, tourists have been posting photos of themselves standing in front of or playfully cowering beneath the towering blob of blackness. Meanwhile, locals have taken to calling it “The Black Bean,” a twist on its prior nickname, “The Bean.”

“I didn’t believe my friends when they first told me that he’d covered the Bean in that ultra-black paint of his,” said Leigh Millicent, a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, who visited the sculpture earlier this week. “But he did, and it’s really, really black. Black as midnight on a moonless night.”

Kapoor said that he was pleased with his first public experiment with Vantablack and plans to spend the next year applying it to all of his large-scale outdoor works, beginning with his London tower, the fire-engine red “ArcelorMittal Orbit” (2012). “Since I started taking on these large public projects, the world has become a much darker place,” he said. “I want my work to reflect that.”

Black Bean image and text from hyperallergic.com

Link here to read about Vantablack.

Wimpole Estate, NEON

on the picturesque grounds of the wimpole estate in cambridgeshire, london-based design studio NEON has installed a series of structures that frame views of the picturesque landscape. the artwork ‘scene: a new way of looking’ pays homage to english landscape architect capability brown, and celebrates the 300th anniversary of his birth. NEON has created nine, three meter high structures — a hybrid of an easel and viewing glass — to encourage visitors to explore the capability brown-designed setting at wimpole. the proposed journey around the estate follows in the footsteps of amabel, a member of the 18th century yorke family who made the new parkland at wimpole the subject of her art.

designboom.com

seeneon.com

                                          

Public Transit, France with 3M

In an effort to bring world famous art to the masses, SNCF — france’s national state-owned rail service — has applied renowned works to one of the most heavily trafficked locations in the country: its public train system. in collaboration with 3M, the interior of a commuter train has been covered with graphic film that mimics impressionist art from the musee d’orsay; an imitation of the architecture of the palace of versailles; and images from cinema gaumont — the oldest film company in the world. 

While serving as a simple method to add beauty to an ordinary ride, the project also reflects the close ties between railroads and art. for example, the J line — which links paris’ gare saint-lazare and vernon stations — travels through landscapes that served as inspiration to many artists. similarly, the musée d’orsay began life as a railway station before it became a museum. as a result of the creative intervention, the artwork has dramatically decreased the amount of graffiti and criminal damage on trains, giving passengers greater peace of mind as they travel from one part of the city to another.

designboom.com

Inflatables, Joshua Allan Harris, Artist

Joshua Allan Harris, Video of Inflatable Sculpture, NYC

Discarded plastic bags and tape. 

Catie Newll, Artist

Detroit really is as desolate as people make it out to be. Have you ever seen an abandoned high-rise with its windows smashed out? You can see that there. People have been arsoning their houses to collect insurance. Artist Catie Newell, in collaboration with nonprofit Imagination Station, has embarked on a project called Salvaged Landscapes in which she collects burned and scrapped lumber from decimated neighborhoods and creates installations in uninhabitable buildings.