Hundreds of people gathered in Chicago on Sunday, November 8, to push a giant steel sculpture exactly seven inches to the left. The sculpture, nicknamed The Bean, is a public installation by Anish Kapoor. Officially named Cloud Gate, it measures 33 by 66 by 42 feet and is on display at Chicago’s Millennium Park.
According to Artnet News, the event started with an anonymous flyer inviting people to ‘Push the Bean’. The flyer went viral and hundreds of people showed up to push the bean at 12:47 pm on Sunday.
But why push the Bean?
But why did people attempt to push the massive sculpture? Well, internet legend says that there's a man stuck inside the Bean. Organisers of the event joked that moving the sculpture would free the man.
The origins of the “Man in the Bean” rumour remain unclear, but the satirical conspiracy theory claims that artist Anish Kapoor trapped a man inside his famous Cloud Gate sculpture, popularly known as the Bean, in Chicago’s Millennium Park.
{{/usCountry}}The origins of the “Man in the Bean” rumour remain unclear, but the satirical conspiracy theory claims that artist Anish Kapoor trapped a man inside his famous Cloud Gate sculpture, popularly known as the Bean, in Chicago’s Millennium Park.
{{/usCountry}}The hoax gained traction in July 2025, when a group of protesters dressed in black gathered outside the sculpture during the opening day of the Lollapalooza music festival. They demanded that authorities free the person allegedly trapped inside. The group claimed the man had been living in isolation behind the sculpture’s mirrored surface, with vents supplying him with food and air. It also alleged that maintenance work around the plaza was being used to secretly deliver supplies to him.
The claims prompted concerned calls to local officials, while Chicago Alderman Brendan Reilly dismissed the allegations, joking that the man had actually been “freed years ago” last year. The protest movement also drew a response from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. The bizarre conspiracy has since inspired a mockumentary titled Man in the Bean, released on YouTube earlier this year.
What happened at the ‘Push the Bean’ event on Sunday?
According to Artnet news, to nobody’s surprise, the massive steel sculpture could not be moved.
However, the event did spark much amusement. On social media, people called it the perfect example of the internet bringing people together.
“Hundreds of strangers came together, shared a laugh, and created one unforgettable Chicago moment. Sometimes the internet really does bring people together!” an X user wrote.
More about Anish Kapoor
Anish Kapoor is a British-Indian sculptor born in Mumbai in 1954. He moved to London in the early 1970s to study art at Hornsey College of Art and Chelsea School of Art and Design.
Widely regarded as one of the leading contemporary artists, Kapoor is known for his large-scale sculptures and installations. He won the prestigious Turner Prize in 1991 and the Praemium Imperiale award for sculpture in 2011.
Cloud Gate, popularly known as “The Bean”, is one of Kapoor’s best-known public artworks. Located at AT&T Plaza in Chicago’s Millennium Park, the elliptical sculpture was inspired by liquid mercury and is made of 168 seamlessly welded, highly polished stainless steel plates.