Loop Public Art Audio/Virtual Tour

This audio tour, created by the Chicago Loop Alliance (CLA), features 17 public works of art scattered throughout the Loop. The tour includes some of the most well-known like the Picasso and Cloud Gate (The Bean”). But it includes many that you might have seen and not noticed like the “Loop Tattoo”.

From the CLA's website, you can click on a location on the interactive map and listen to a short clip about the featured piece. Maybe find out something you didn't already know! Of course, you can download the printable map and and a zipped file of the audio clips for use on your favorite MP3 player. Just go to http://www.chicagoloopalliance.com/looptheloop/artloop/

The tour covers about 2 miles (16+ blocks) between Michigan Avenue & 9th Street and Randolph Street, and between Clark Street and Millennium Park. Local's Note: There is a HUGE gap of 6 blocks between Site #14 and #15. The map directs you south on State Street where there is no *permanent outdoor art. But if you have the time and inclination, stop and admire the Gargoyles atop the Harold Washington Library at Jackson & State. Continue 1 block south to Congress Parkway, go left/east to the Auditorium Theater at Wabash. If the lobby doors are open, poke your head inside for a glimpse of theater grandeur. If the doors are not open, continue east to Michigan to Site #17. From there you can proceed south to #15 and #16, then double back north on Michigan Avenue or through Grant Park (or continue south to the “Leg Sculptures” and double back to your starting point from there.)

Here's the list of the 17 featured tour locations:
1. Art Institute of Chicago and Gardens
2. Crown Fountain
3. Cloud Gate (The Bean)
4. BP Bridge
5. Wrigley Peristyle Monument
6. Jay Pritzker Pavillion
7. “We Will” sculpture
8. Loop Tattoo
9. Vietnam Veterans Memorial
10. Monument with Standing Beast
11. Picasso Sculpture at Daley Plaza
12. Miro's Chicago (across from the Picasso)
13. Four Seasons
14. “Flamingo” at Federal Plaza
15. General Logan statue
16. Spirit of Music Statue and Garden
17. Bowman and Spearman statues

* There is a TEMPORARY exhibit called “Eye and the Cardinal” at the corner of Jackson & State through October 2010. It's a GIANT (3 stories tall!) eyeball. Talk about “interpretative art”!