Roger Hiorns Installs Jet Engines at Art Institute of Chicago, Tony Tasset's Giant Eye Coming to Pritzker Park

Roger Hiorns has placed two decommissioned Pratt and Whitney TF33 P9 jet engines on an exterior roof terrace of the Art Institute of Chicago, where they remain through September 19. The engines, once used for long-range surveillance planes, now function as sculptural objects for public observation. Hiorns embedded anti-depressant drugs like Effexor and citalopram into the engines, a detail revealed only by wall labels. Meanwhile, Tony Tasset will install a 30-foot-tall fiberglass eyeball sculpture titled EYE in Chicago's Pritzker Park from July 7 through October. The work, based on a 2007 piece for Laumeier Sculpture Garden in St. Louis, features a blue iris and red veining. It will be accompanied by CARDINAL, a series of 156 street banners depicting Illinois's state bird in flight. Tasset created the monumental sculpture Paul for Manilow Sculpture Park in 2007 and debuted Blob Monster at ArtChicago in April 2010. John Parot, a Los Angeles-based artist and contestant on Bravo's 'The Next Great Artist,' studied at the University of Illinois – Chicago and recently exhibited at Western Exhibitions. His work incorporates Egyptian motifs, Hellenistic eroticism, and vibrant colors, emphasizing playful design over narrative weight. Hiorns's installation near the Terzo Piano restaurant contrasts the engines' former power with their current inert state, while Tasset's EYE evokes urban surveillance without actual sight.