In New York, a symbol of Chicago was installed - the famous mirror 'bean'

A large sculpture by Anish Kapoor commissioned for a prominent street corner in Lower Manhattan back in 2008 has finally been completed. It doesn't have a name yet, but in many ways this work is similar to the British artist's iconic Cloud Gate sculpture, nicknamed "the bean" by Chicagoans, and now shines brightly on the corner of Tribeca's Church and Leonard streets. Read more about this event told the publication CNN.

Height The sculpture at its highest point is 19 feet (5,8 m) and is estimated to have cost between $8 million and $10 million to complete.

Unlike the Chicago sculpture that occupies a prominent public square in Millennium Park, Tribeca's new "bean" appears to be squeezed under the canopy of 56 Leonard, a luxury condominium building better known as the "Jenga Tower" for its cantilevered volumes reminiscent of a 'game tower'. .

The tower was designed by renowned Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron for development company Alexico Group, which also commissioned the Kapoor sculpture.

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In 2016, the New York Post reported that Kapoor bought an apartment in the building for $13,5 million.

In addition to the slowdown in construction due to the financial crisis of 2008-2009, and then COVID-19, the completion of the construction of the Kapoor sculpture was also slowed down due to its technical complexity. As a result, she stood partially completed for years, surrounded by scaffolding and with large parts of her shimmering shell missing, earning her the nickname "half-bean".

In a 2018 Alexico Group post published by Tribeca Citizen, the sculpture's makers, Performance Structures, talked about the huge logistical and technical challenges associated with Cloud Gate and how Tribeca's "bean" differs from that project both in assembly as well as during installation.

“In order to install the sculpture on Leonard Street more quickly and save money, it was decided to build the components in such a way that they could fit snugly together, and the seams became almost invisible,” the message says.

“Another significant difference between the Leonard Street sculpture and Cloud Gate is the suspension system,” the maker continued to explain. – Instead of one large support frame, each cut has its own individual support frame. The support frames for the lower sections are bolted, and the sections themselves are suspended with cables. Once the work is completed, the entire sculpture will be suspended with a system of cables and spring elements so that it can move slightly with changes in temperature, wind and snow loads.”

One of the benefits of opening a "bean" in Tribeca is that it is built in the middle of one of New York's main gallery districts.