Mechanical sculptures in mount prospect

January 21, 2009 6:37 AM

Northern Chicago Suburbs filter: I'm trying to find info about a group of mechanical sculptures which were once installed at Mount Prospect Plaza. They were there around the mid 80's to early 90's.

The current owners of the mall were not the owners at the time, and didn't have any info about the sculptures. Additionally, as far as I can tell the mall has had 100% turnover of its stores since that time, so I don't think any of the current workers there would remember it. I also visited the Mt. Prospect historical society and the public library, and neither had any info.

However, I'm 100% sure they were there, my brother and sisters remember them also. Most were wind powered, however there was one which was electric. This one was in the middle of a large sunken circular garden. At the edge of the circle was a control console consisting of four large switches. Each switch controlled one motor on the sculpture. The sculpture was a long jointed pole, with a motor at each joint, and one at the base to rotate the pole. At the end of the pole was a large ball. The height from the ground to the first joint was such that, even when all the joints were in their extreme 'down' position, the height of the ball was still about 10 feet off the ground so it couldn't hit anyone. Additionally, at the edge of the circle was a second pole, about 20 feet tall, with a tab at the top. If you used the switches to swing the ball to hit the tab a bell would ring. It was quite awesome, and I've been dying in the years since its disappearance to know what happened to it, if it moved, if it exists somewhere else, if its creator has done other works, etc.

posted by Reverend John to society & culture (5 comments total)

No idea, but if this thread doesn't turn anything up you might try posting this question over at the Straight Dope Chicago Forums.
posted by Johnny Assay at 7:32 AM on January 21

I'm not familiar with the Mount Prospect plaza, but I spent my childhood going to the Cermak Plaza in Berwyn, which also had many weird sculptures. Here's a list. Maybe something will look similar to what you remember?
posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:47 AM on January 21 [1 favorite]

SuperSquirrel - Interesting! Bee Tree and Windamajig by George Rhoads resemble the wind powered sculptures I remember... nothing there looks quite like the segmented motorized pole, though.
posted by Reverend John at 8:06 AM on January 21

George Rhoads lives in Ithaca, NY. He did the sculptures in the Boston airport.
posted by bdc34 at 8:30 AM on January 21

Here's a local 1980 article about the Cermak installations, which mentions the Mt. Prospect installation in passing as well as some potential contacts.

In addition to the historical society and the library (good start!) I would try contacting local arts and culture associations, and possibly the local chamber of commerce. Some of these at least have their own institutional memory and will have somebody in mind who was around and involved back then. It may take a couple of calls.

It does sound like Rhoads to me, though. I've seen some of his installations elsewhere. Here's some discussion at a website devoted to these types of kinetic sculptures.
posted by dhartung at 10:02 PM on January 21 [1 favorite]