Outside the Nottingham Playhouse is a sculpture that looks very familiar. Called Sky Mirror, it's another sculpture by British sculptor Anish Kapoor, also known as the man who created The Bean (formal title Cloud Gate) in Millennium Park.
Although Sky Mirror is on a much smaller scale than The Bean, it's still a marvel. I love the way it reflects the heavens and brings it to earth in a dizzying inversion of proportions. Gazing into it, one really does see the world upside down.
As Chicago Toni posted in an earlier comment on this site, Sky Mirror is also known around these parts as the sculpture that might have spelled doom to pigeons. However, I believe those fears were unfounded, as I can find no mention of even a single singed pigeon.
Speaking as the person who started the roasted-pigeon urban myth, I am relieved to hear that no pigeons have been harmed in the making of this artwork.
In my defence, I would say that I made the comment as a somewhat tongue-in-cheek remark to a reporter on the local newspaper on a slow friday afternoon, and it rather grew from there. I would also add that what I actually said was that such a risk existed if the Playhouse did not take the appropriate safety measures; since they took those measures, Nottingham's bird population (and the rest of us) should be safe.
I'm a great fan of the Bean, as a regluar visitor to Chicago for the past nine years its a city I've grown to love and now think of as my second home. I can understand if while you are in Nottingham you might feel a bit homesick, I often feel that way when leaving to come back to Nottingham. I understand my friend Chicago-Toni has been commenting on her visits to Nottingham and the sky mirror.