Verbatim from these pages celebrating the Plan of Chicago…www.burnhamplan100.com…

“Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die.”

Architectural exhibits in Millennium Park designed by London-based Zaha Hadid and Amsterdam-based Ben van Berkel of UNStudio emphasize the importance of boldly imagining a better future for all. Both are intended to echo the audacity of the 1909 Burnham Plan, which proclaimed, “What we as a people decide to do in the public interest we can and surely will bring to pass.”

Zaha Hadid’s pavilion is a tent-like structure made of light weight aluminum and dressed in a tensile fabric. The exterior skin rises and falls along its aluminum ribs—the lines for which were derived from the diagonal lines and avenues in Burnham and Bennett’s 1909 Plan. Louvers in the pavilion’s ceiling will bring an interplay of light and shadow into the space as the sun changes position during the day. Exterior lighting will highlight the pavilion at night.

The interior of the Hadid Pavilion will serve as a screen for an immersive video installation created by UIC-trained and London-based artist Thomas Gray for The Gray Circle. This film will tell the story of Chicago’s transformation, including visions for Chicago’s future by local architects. The pavilion envelops visitors in its sinuous form, but the addition of Gray’s film leads to an even more engaging experience. This pavilion and video exhibition will inspire public discourse about the history and future of Chicago.

The aluminum structure for this fabric pavilion was donated by Marmon/Keystone Corporation, a member of The Marmon Group of companies. The Pavilion can be dismantled and re-installed in another location.

The sculptural UNStudio pavilion is highly accessible and functions as an urban activator. Framed by Lake Michigan on one side and Michigan Avenue on the other, it relates to diverse city-contexts and scales. The edges of the roof are parallel, but toward the center there is more complexity in the form.

At night, UNStudio’s pavilion becomes a responsive architecture with LED lights that change color and pattern. These lights will be in constant flux as the number of visitors to the pavilion changes. Programmatically the pavilion invites people to gather, walk around and through the space—to explore and observe. It’s sculptural form and reactive lights will spark curiosity and wonder in its visitors.

The UNStudio pavilion is made of steel, clad in plywood, and is covered in high-gloss white paint to reflect the city and pavilion visitors. It will be built of steel donated by Chicago-based ArcelorMittal, and after October 31 will be de-constructed and recycled.

One almost doesn’t know what to say. Shall people walk around inside a snake like form and be programmed, or shall they walk around in a state of curiosity and wonder and pretty lights and be programmed and activated? Hmm. Tough decision.

For more information on creepy architecture, see here.

This is the logo for the Burnham Plan Centennial.

Daniel Burnham designed the plan for Chicago. The actual centennial anniversary of this plan is on July 4, 2009.

When I saw the logo, it immediately made me think of this crop circle reported in early May 2009, particularly the part on the far right end of this picture.

Here’s some analysis of this glyph by Clif High at halfpasthuman.com.

I’m sure that’s just a total coincidence that the bottom section of this glyph and the Burnham logo have an eerie similarity, right?

Two nested circles and a big arc touching a smaller circle.

I have two circles for you, and they go like this: o_O

Hue and cry, from Wikipedia (links removed):

In common law, a hue and cry (Latin, hutesium et clamor, “a horn and shouting”) is a process by which bystanders are summoned to assist in the apprehension of a criminal who has been witnessed in the act of committing a crime. By the statute of Winchester, 13 Edw. I cc. 1 and 4, (1285) it was provided that anyone, either a constable or a private citizen, who witnessed a crime shall make hue and cry, and that the hue and cry must be kept up against the fleeing criminal from town to town and from county to county, until the felon is apprehended and delivered to the sheriff. All able-bodied men, upon hearing the shouts, were obliged to assist in the pursuit of the criminal, which makes it comparable to the posse comitatus. It was moreover provided that a hundred that failed to give pursuit on the hue and cry would become liable in case of any theft or robbery. Those who raised a hue and cry falsely were themselves guilty of a crime.

In contemporary terms, the hue and cry is also used figuratively to describe the behavior of the news media, seeking a scapegoat for some complex public calamity or instigating moral panics.

Can you imagine the hue and cry that would ensue if, for example, some terrorist incident destroyed an iconic American painting like, let’s just say for shits and giggles, American Gothic?

Let’s pause here for a moment and imagine that. Think about Charlie Gibson and Brian Ross with their sad eyes, shaking their heads sadly, regrettably, as they report the World News Tonight. Think of Diane Sawyer, her face all magically blurred into wrinkle-free perfection on high def teevee, and think of all the talking heads who deliver “the news.” Imagine the graphics and the crawl and the music for their next terrorist production extravaganza.

You might need some tissues.

OK, nevermind. It turns out that the American Gothic painting “lives” at the Art Institute of Chicago. It’s totally safe in a beautiful and famous building designed by Daniel Burnham, in a museum under the direction of a Mr. James Cuno. There is NOTHING to worry about. Mr. Cumo has even written books about antiquity.

{Hmm. That’s an interesting book cover. Ancient Egyptian art guarded by machine gun toting white guys in black uniforms…can’t quite make out the patches but they look like private security.}

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8602.html

Cuno argues that nationalistic retention and reclamation policies impede common access to this common heritage and encourage a dubious and dangerous politicization of antiquities–and of culture itself. Antiquities need to be protected from looting but also from nationalistic identity politics. [which are bad, see?] To do this, Cuno calls for measures to broaden rather than restrict international access to antiquities. He advocates restoration of the system under which source countries would share newly discovered artifacts in exchange for archaeological help, and he argues that museums should again be allowed reasonable ways to acquire undocumented antiquities. The first extended defense of the side of museums in the struggle over antiquities, Who Owns Antiquity? is sure to be as important as it is controversial.

“…an illuminating…book.”–Edward Rothstein, New York Times

Oh indeed, Edward (winkedy wink wink wink).

“It would be a mistake to see this deeply felt and carefully reasoned argument as self-serving. [or maybe not a mistake] The crux of his argument is that modern nation-states [which are bad bad bad] have at best a tenuous connection with the ancient cultures in question, and their interests are political rather than scientific…Cuno advocates instead a universal, humanistic approach [kind of like a new world order approach] to the world’s shared cultural treasures…Cuno’s pleas for a more expansive approach to cultural artifacts must be taken seriously.”–Publishers Weekly

“The author’s message is that stewardship [ie: control], not ownership, is what matters. Trade in antiquities should be dictated not by politics, but by the demands of conservation, knowledge, and access. The argument presented here is thought-provoking. Cuno may be over-optimistic. But you can’t help feeling that he is right.”–Financial Times [Go ahead, just try and help yourself from feeling that he is right. You can do it because he is wrong.]

Stay tuned. There could be something to worry about after all.