Today the Chicago Tribune had a special section on Millennium Park. Millennium Park officially opens Friday after many years of budget overruns and delays. (Where’s Daniel Burnham when we need him?)

On the front page was the article Chicago finds `bean’ meets taste test. This article was about the new sculpture named “Cloud Gate” that was unvieled for the opening of the park this week. I have to agree the concept and the actual execution of the sculpture is awesome, at least from the pictures in the paper. Unfortunately, the only image I could find online is the artist’s concept that you see on the left. As I’ve got my camera with me today, I’ll have to try to get a real picture.

In any case, the thing that really bothered me about the article was a comment that the journalist got from a man on the street. What’s worse is that the Tribune deceided to make it a highlight burb. I will do the same, although probably not for the same reason. I’m doing it to show how stupid it is.

“Look at how vivid it is. It looks like a high-definition TV. It’s very cool.” — John Horan of Chicago

I’m a big fan of technology, I own many toys and an HDTV and stuff like that. I also will admit to watching more TV than I probably should. However, I think its really sad that the only thing he could compare the mirrored sculpture to was the sharp image displayed on a TV. We have such a wide vocabulary available to us. Thanks to science we’ve seen the birth and death of stars, the destructive and awesome power of splitting the atom. And all he could find to say about a beautiful work of art was “Its cool, its like my TV.”

I don’t know what it should be compared to, but I think this comment, and the Tribune’s highlighting of it really says something.

[ Update 7/16: On the radio this morning, they said the park is 4 years late and 3 times over budget. Fun! ]