Why do Andy Warhol’s Silver Clouds summon such a dream-like, fanciful state that other Mylar balloons don’t?  I believe it is the pillow shape and reflective silver color.  They are at once futuristic and welcoming.  This installation could easily be found on the set of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, with the difference being that these clouds are inviting instead of cold, enveloping instead of sterile.   This beckoning to a billowy future makes this interactive exhibit an escapist treat.

Of course, it is fun for the old and young alike.  Hopefully you will arrive on a day when the new clouds will have just been blown. The shelf life of the 1000 Silver Clouds, equally as delighting to view through the windows from the exterior of Crown Hall as from the interior, is less than a week, so the exhibit is constantly being revived with a new batch.

It is meant to be a participative exhibit, so be prepared to play and dream, touch and poke, and frolic and meander through the clouds.  You can even set and spike, I suppose, if you have to.  Or, like the IIT students, you can study atmospheric properties and light and air follow patterns.  What you can’t do, however, is (in theory) take pictures, per the direction from the Andy Warhol Foundation.

It is well worth the trip and an easy art experience for those just warming up to the art of Andy Warhol.   Plus, who doesn’t love to rediscover the magical IIT campus from time to time?

$ 5, free for children under 10, running through August 1.
S. R. Crown Hall 3360 S. State Street, http://www.iit.edu/giving/mies/

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 18th, 2010 at 9:20 am.