In December 2019 [pause for as long as you need to recall what life felt like then], a shiny bean was sprouting at the bottom of a luxury Manhattan condo building. It was a wild year, and you may recall that beans in general were enjoying a shocking ascent at this time, a popularity that only skyrocketed throughout the pandemic.
Because the hustle and bustle of New York City was the only mode we knew back then, it only took a couple of weeks for me to become impatient with the slow speed at which this silver bean was taking shape. By January 2020, I was tapping my foot like a content junkie and asking, "What's bean taking so long with this thing?"
Then a global pandemic hit and changed life as we know it forever. A silver bean, in this economy? Probably not.
One might assume that it was in this drastically changing landscape that I forgot about the bean. But I didn't forget about the bean—the bean became a stupid shining symbol of The Before, planted in my memory, and I'd wonder when we would be able to report on its completion. Sure, it drifted into the dark recesses of my mind now and again—it was a long winter, and even this bright lighthouse of a bean beckoning me from another era burned out from time to time.
Still, every once in a while I would remember what life used to be like, and search the geotag on Instagram. "What happened to that silly ol' bean?"
The bean this week.
The bean is located in Tribeca at 56 Leonard Street, which itself looks like a platinum Jenga set, and promises only to sow chaos. Created by Anish Kapoor, of the famous Chicago bean (called Cloud Gate) that is visited by many millions annually, how could it not wreak havoc at this little corner of Lower Manhattan? When you're dealing with a bean like this, you want to install it in a wide-open space, not jam it into the bottom of a residential building in New York City. Any fool would know this.
Still, plans for the bean move ever forward, and this week it looked as if it had grown, and was now housing what appeared to be four miniature forklifts. A Russian nesting doll of endless surprise, that bean.
To recap: In January 2020, we were at half bean. Today, in October 2021 (about a month after the crew returned to the job site), we have achieved 3/4 bean, as two more panels have been added recently. At this rate, I predict we will reach full bean sometime in Winter 2021/2022.
This has bean an update—stay tuned.
