By the numbers
Inception of project: 01.1999.
Artist: Anish Kapoor, an internationally known native of Bombay living in London.
Work: “Cloud Gate,” the artist’s first permanent public art in the United States.
Location: Planned for Millennium Park’s Lurie Garden, but resited to SBC Plaza, east of the park’s skating rink.
Material: Stainless steel.
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Dimensions: 66 feet long, 33 feet high, 42 feet wide.
Weight: 110 tons.
Number of plates forming the structure: 168.
Time creating the plates: 04.2002 to 06.2004.
Fabricator: Performance Structures Inc., Oakland.
Working process: Back and forth between artist in England and fabricator in California conducted by phone, e-mail, drawings and models.
Fabrication: Performed on site under the eyes of Web cameras that allowed viewers to follow its development.
Scheduled completion: 07.2004. Actual completion: 03.2006.
Reason for delay: At park’s opening, welding of plates had not been completed and 3- to 5-inch seams between plates remained visible.
Time welding, grinding, sanding, polishing and buffing plates: 01.2005 to 03.2006.
PLANNED DEDICATION: 05.2006.
Cost: 1999 (estimate pre-park opening): $6 million
2004 (at park opening): $11.5 million
2005 (Memorial Day): $17 million
2006 (final): $23 million
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Alan G. Artner, [email protected] and Charles Storch, [email protected]