The new planters on Michigan Ave function as works of art in the sense that they make you aware of the sloping sidewalk. Much like the function of Serra’s proposed huge public art at Caltech, except without all the controversy.
Serra notes about his sculpture: “As one drives along or walks the site, the sculptural configuration foreshortens and extends, compresses and expands the entire field and its urban surroundings, continuously redrawing the viewer’s relationship to the landscape and the architecture.”
Maldre notes about the Michigan Ave flower pots: “As one walks along Michigan Ave, you don’t immediately notice the slight grade (angle) the sidewalk has. But the planters angle along the base redraws’s viewer’s relationship with the sidewalk as the grade (angle) becomes apparent.”
yes, at first you think that maybe it’s the sidewalk that’s level, and the planters that are slanted. it makes you think. then you realize the truth.