Wish Well

Meet the Artist: Mike Hoyt
Meet the Organization: Pillsbury House + Theatre

Wish Well is a contemplative, public space located at the corner of 35th and Chicago (under the Pillsbury House building facade).  It will invite community members to simply sit, share, and reflect on mass well wishes left anonymously by people whom visit the space year round.

Wish Well is one of two proposed projects for the PH+T Arts on Chicago initiative.  It was primarily developed to creatively activate an empty and underutilized exterior space under the PH+T building façade.  The vision for this project was initially developed by the PH+T staff and community stakeholders through the Pillsbury House and Theatre Cultural Community Hub Institute sessions. The creation of an exterior public gathering space at the corner of 35th and Chicago will transforms a drab area into a vibrant public square, transforming an empty concrete space into a inviting area for people to hangout.  It will function on several levels.

On a base level, Wish Well will serve as a seating area for PH+T participants, or anyone walking, waiting for the bus.  Yet as people linger and interact with the installation they will discover it is an ongoing interactive sculpture that asks them to write wishes and deposit them into the sculpture.  Wishes will be collected and entered into a scrolling LED text matrix that will display and loop messages in English and Spanish throughout the year, ultimately creating a collective composite of wishes for the community.  Visitors can simply sit and contemplate wishes, or chose to create and submit their own wish.  The raised deck and seating will alternately serve as ad hoc meeting space, outdoor classroom, and an intimate stage/performance venue.

Location:

• Utility Box Photo Wraps
• All
• In the Pursuit of Happiness