Hundreds of people gathered in Chicago on Sunday, November 8, to push a giant steel sculpture exactly seven inches to the left. Officially named Cloud Gate, it measures 33 by 66 by 42 feet and is on display at Chicago’s Millennium Park. The sculpture, nicknamed The Bean, is a public installation by Anish Kapoor.
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. He won the prestigious Turner Prize in 1991 and the Praemium Imperiale award for sculpture in 2011. 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. Widely regarded as one of the leading contemporary artists, Kapoor is known for his large-scale sculptures and installations.
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.
