Organic form met cold steel on the south end of Michigan Avenue in 2006. 106 pairs of legs each standing nine feet tall are frozen mid-stride missing everything from the belt up. Polish artist Magdalena Abakanowicz is responsible for the permanent public art piece titled “Agora.” Abakanowicz spent two years casting the figures in Poland before they made their way to Chicago.
The collection of 106 separate sculptures are scattered across a cement slab. The size of each piece is incredible. Under closer examination you notice the interesting texture. The surface of each sculpture is rippled and manipulated. Each surface different from the next. The legs are somewhat realistic with five individual toes and believable proportions. Abakanowicz poured a part of herself into each mold.
“Agora” is more than a visual sculpture; its massive size creates an interaction with the viewer. You can physically walk through the piece in the company of these giant iron legs. Abakanowicz use of materials, scale, and location play a vital role in the sculptures success.
The separate pieces are united by the repetition of seemingly identical lower halves, when in fact each set of legs is completely unique in itself. Although similar in shape there were 106 different molds created for 106 different pairs of legs. Each mold gave way to subtle wrinkles and freckles isolating one from another. The steel is a dark burnt-umber rusted with the texture of bark. Instead of a hard man-made surface the steel appears natural and organic. Steel is solid and immovable while our legs are constantly in motion. Abakanowicz utilized the material fusing two dramatically different subjects into one cohesive sculpture. The repetition of legs echoes through the crowd uniting each unique piece as whole.
When walking though “Agora” your eyes wander from leg to leg in all directions. The towering legs are anything but submissive. You become the minority amongst the crowd of figures. Instead of viewing the sculpture, you’re now the one being viewed. Your space is utterly invaded. It’s this overwhelming sense that for a moment you are part of something. A concrete slab covered in steel doesn’t always move you like that.
A mysterious group of sculptures stand tall in the southwest corner of Grant Park at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road. This corner is a perfect location for a large installation with its heavy traffic. With all the movement in the park and on the streets “Agora” too seems to be moving. Abakanowicz’s work speaks of dignity and courage, a reflection of herself. Her fusion of the organic and non-organic mix perfectly into a complicated visual and physical interaction.
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