Bean brouhaha: chicago protested a man living inside iconic sculpture
A ludicrous claim – a man residing within Anish Kapoor’s ‘Cloud Gate,’ affectionately known as ‘The Bean’ – sparked a full-blown Social Media storm and street protests in Chicago’s Loop this past year. It’s a spectacle that’s now being meticulously dissected in a new mockumentary, “Man in the Bean,” courtesy of filmmakers Nathan Graber-Lipperman and Cris Campos.
The bean’s secret dweller
The initial viral suggestion, seemingly designed to provoke, quickly escalated, drawing a response from Governor JB Pritzker and inspiring an elaborate – and frankly, baffling – investigation. Graber-Lipperman and Campos, the driving force behind Powder Blue World, dove headfirst into the story, constructing a replica of the sculpture as part of their research. They’ve now shared their process and surprisingly poignant mission with CBS News Chicago.
“We weren’t really looking for a story,” Campos explained. “We were more interested in exploring the way the internet amplifies – and sometimes completely misinterprets – reality. Powder Blue World is about ‘making the internet smaller,’ fostering genuine community in a digital age that often feels profoundly isolating. This project just organically evolved from that.”
Their journey involved interviews with a local architect, detailing the structural challenges of the Bean, and incorporating sound design from the governor’s office – a bizarre, yet fitting, touch. The film isn’t just a recounting of the event; it’s a quiet meditation on the nature of belief, the power of Social Media, and the peculiar ways in which Chicago, a city perpetually wrestling with its own identity, responds to the absurd.
“You start to understand the city through these kinds of strange occurrences,” Graber-Lipperman added. “The Bean became this focal point, this symbol of something… unresolved. It forced people to confront not just the statue itself, but also their own assumptions about what’s real.”
“Man in the Bean” is available for streaming on the Powder Blue World YouTube channel. And frankly, considering the sheer volume of nonsense swirling online these days, a little bit of carefully constructed, unsettling observation is precisely what we need.