MCA Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

MCA, the Museum of Contemporary Art, was initially conceptualized in a 1964 meeting of Chicago personals at art critic Doris Lane Butler’s home to establish a museum devoted to the modern art to complement Chicago’s Art Institute of Chicago. The MCA was opened in 1967 in a small space in the Kunsthalle model and began to establish a collection of contemporary art in 1974. In 1996, the museum was moved to its current location at 220 East Chicago Avenue, a former National Guard Armory, into a newly constructed structure designed by Josef Paul Kleihues of Berlin.

No Comments / May 18.10 / Art, Travel / by Jen-Kuang Chang

Chicago Water Taxi

The Chicago Water Taxi was initially started as a rush hour commuter boat between Michigan Avenue and the Northwestern Railroad Station on the Chicago River in 1962. The water taxis are operated by Wendella Sightseeing Co. Inc. which was founded by Swedish immigrant Albert Borgstrom in 1935. The single-ride fare is $2 and the weekday all-day-pass is $4.

No Comments / May 17.10 / Travel / by Jen-Kuang Chang

Cloud Gate “The Bean” in Millennium Park

After a fun-but-somewhat-long unsubscribed lecture by a mysteriously jovial barista in a café in downtown Chicago, I was finally able to put the image of ten heavy-duty helicopters carrying “The Bean”, a bit like what happened at the end of film Swordfish, from a remote arty island to its current urban location.  Detecting my hearing-is-not-always-believing kind of expression, the barista acutely assured me that this $23 million uneatable bean was born on the current site after years of construction. What a relief. "Continue Reading…"

No Comments / May 17.10 / Art, Travel / by Jen-Kuang Chang

Bakewell Ottoman Garden | Missouri Botanical Garden

The Bakewell Ottoman Garden, a Turkish garden established in the northeast corner of the Missouri Botanical Garden in 2006, features a stone pedestal fountain, known as cheshme, a main fountain, classic Turkish plants and flowers such as tulips, citrus, and perennials. The garden was a gift from the late Edward L. Bakewell, Jr.

Bakewell Ottoman Garden | Missouri Botanical Garden | 2010 | Field-recording by Jen-Kuang Chang

No Comments / May 17.10 / Found Sound, Travel / by Jen-Kuang Chang

Bell Tree | Missouri Botanical Garden

The Bell Tree Sculpture in the Missouri Botanical Garden was pretty popular. While waiting patiently in the line mostly consisted of giggly five-year-olds and their parents to play with the sculpture, I, for some reasons, began to gleefully hum Bob Dylan’s “All I Really Want to Do” in my nearly-sunburned head.

I don’t want to fake you out
Take or shake or forsake you out
I ain’t lookin’ for you to feel like me
See like me or be like me
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you

Finally, it was my turn. I quickly set up my field-recorder and played various bells in the sculpture while five-year-olds, eyes wild-opened, clinging to their parents like cute baby koala bears and watching a mildly strange fellow making friends with sounds of bells.

The Bell Tree Sculpture of the Zimmerman Sensory Garden, a garden specifically designed for the visually impaired in the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, was created by Vernon D. Gross, William C. Severson, and Paolo Soleri in 1986. It was donated by Mrs. E.F. Zimmerman as a gift to the garden.

The Bell Tree | Missouri Botanical Garden | 2010 | Field-recorded by Jen-Kuang Chang

No Comments / May 15.10 / Found Sound, Travel / by Jen-Kuang Chang