A MIND BENDER; CHICAGO.

Byline: BY PAUL COLE Travel Editor

JUST blew in from the Windy City.

The windy city is mighty pretty - and they've got what we've not.

A world-beating art attraction.

Where new Birmingham boasts the Bullring bull and Selfridges store, America's self-styled Second City has Cloud Gate.

I've just returned from a weekend trip to check out rock icon Tina Turner's comeback.

But even she was outshone by the eye-catching and mind-boggling sculpture in Millennium Park.

Shaped like a giant coffee bean and mirrored inside and out, it is utterly unique.

Remember the old hall of mirrors often found at faded British seaside resorts?

Multiply the effect a million times and you won't even come close to the Cloud Gate phenomenon.

From the outside it's mind-bending.

But step inside and it's mind-blowing.

Look up and you'll see seemingly impossible reflections from every dazzling direction.

Designed by British artist Anish Kapoor, the 110-ton sculpture is forged from a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city's famous skyline and the clouds above.

A12-foot high arch provides a "gate"

to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.

Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66 feet long by 33 feet high.

"What I wanted to do is make something that would engage the Chicago skyline so that you will see the clouds kind of floating in, with those very tall buildings reflected in the work," says Kapoor.

"And since it is in the form of a gate, youcan enter into this very deep chamber that does, inaway, the same thing to your reflection as the exterior of the piece is doing to the reflection of the city around."

That's artspeak for 'gobsmacking' by the way.

It's a good job Birmingham's cringemaking pink plastic Forward statue melted in a fireball years back.

Come on Brum, let's think big.

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CAPTION(S):

REFLECTED: The amazing view from beneath the structure.; CLOUD GATE: An extraordinary sight.