‘ROCK & The Bean’ is work in progress – a moment in the state of the art of architecture – in the green heart of Chicago’s famous Millennium Park. The exhibition consists of salvaged historic raw limestone rocks that once protected the city’s shoreline, stacked in a ‘depository’ in the south side, now midway on their journey to be repurposed into a new life as ROCK – a contemporary pop-up pavilion/lakefront kiosk at Montrose Beach.

Conceived by NLÉ in collaboration with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), the exhibition is a space for public participation, education and interaction between man and material. For the next 3 months during the Chicago Architecture Biennial we invite the public to come add value to these 1930s limestone rocks, by participating in artist facilitated carving, painting, performances and other unimagined processes.

Chicago residents and visitors will recognize their contribution to the lakefront kiosk for years to come, as it becomes a permanent part of the lakefront kiosk and the City of Chicago.