It’s already been built, but that doesn’t seem to matter. Yesterday the Chicago Plan Commission approved the construction of a temporary art pavilion in Millennium Park.
Chicago Architecture Blog reporter Daniel Schell was there when the city gave the go-ahead to the project called Small Chapel for One Person or at Most a Couple. It’s a pavilion designed by Wheeler Kearns Architects for showcasing the work of French photographer Jean-Luc Mylayne. The temporary building is located in the Lurie Garden, a favorite location for urban birdwatchers, and appropriately will showcase Mr. Mylayne’s avian photographs. From the project web site:
The chapel building, calm and hushed, in which visitors sit and look up to see a suite of photographs showing humble sparrows, perched on the corner of a square roof under an azure sky. These photographs, attached to the chapel ceiling, show birds doing something nearly inconceivable: allowing a potential predator to approach from underneath. The trust implicit in these photographs, and their simple clarity, give much to ponder. Mylayne’s idea and his form here—as always—possess a restrained yet magnificent aesthetic and intellectual impact.
This is a joint project of the Arts Club of Chicago and the Art Institute of Chicago which are also holding Mylayne exhibitions at the same time. It opens to the public today. For more information, check the web site.