by Tt Shinkan
Even if you’re not from Chicago, you’re probably familiar with one its most famous pieces of art. The magnificent statue called Cloud Gate, or what’s commonly referred to as The Bean. Built in 2004 by Indian-born British artist Sir Anish Kapoor, the statue stands right in the middle of Millennium Park, a few feet away from the Art Institute of Chicago. Since it’s unveiling nearly 14 years ago, The Bean has been a hub for tourists and locals alike, standing next to it’s mirror-like exterior trying to snap that perfect selfie telling the world, “Look at me! I’m in Chicago!”
Growing up just a half an hour away from the city, I never saw the appeal of The Bean. I even have this running joke among my family and friends that I even despise the structure, which honestly, isn’t far from the truth. I believe my disliking of it started my junior and senior years of high school when my prom group wanted to go see the statue the day after prom both years. We grew up in a small Indiana town a half hour away, we’ve seen The Bean before. There’s even a picture of me in front of it last summer with an unamused expression. If I’m being honest, I can write a whole book about why I don’t like The Bean, but this feature isn’t about my dislike for Cloud Gate, actually it’s more of a story of irony. You see, back last October, I created a Facebook event dedicated to The Bean that went viral.
Creating a Viral Event






Outside of Facebook
I was curious to see if my event was gaining any traction outside of Facebook. I decided to look it up on Twitter and to my amazement, people were actually talking about it. Not a lot, but still way more then what I had thought! I liked all of the posts including one that featured the image from it. The user commented how the image for the event made her “WEEP”, so I decided to reply to it with “at least my graphic design classes in college are paying off”. She immediately replied with “Oh my GOD ARE YOU THE SAINT WHO MADE THIS” and “YOUR SENSE OF HUMOR AND SKILLS ARE A+”. I even decided to google the event. I found that it made it on Know Your Meme and even Reddit. The Bradley Scout, Bradley University’s student newspaper in Peoria, Illinois, referenced the event in one of their articles.
The Aftermath
When the day of the event happened, over 34,000 people were interested and over 4,800 people said they were going. Looking back, I still can’t believe something I created went viral! It’s a weird feeling. Most people probably think that once something of theirs goes viral, their life will change and people will know who they are, but from what I learned throughout my journey, nothing changes. Even with a nickname like “Tt”, no one knew who I was. The event was the only thing that people knew about, and I’m honestly alright with that. The only thing that had my name attached to it were the various screenshots of the event with my name next to the “Hosted by” section. It’s weird to think that my name is kind of attached to an event dedicated to something I’m not the biggest fan of. In fact, for Christmas this year, my sister got me a miniature version of The Bean that I currently have sitting on my TV stand in my room. I wanted to ask my friends and family about how it feels knowing someone whose Facebook event went viral. The following are their responses:“It’s one of those moments when you unexpect the expected. I’m disappointed, but I am also very proud she had enough courage and stupidity to do that.” -Alexandria Shinkan, sister
“At first I didn’t even realize you created it! Then I saw 30,000 people had liked it and your name on it. I was proud of you but couldn’t believe that many people knew about it.” -Nadene Shinkan, mother
“I thought of course it would be Tt to go viral. I thought it was so funny. I told my friends up here [Western Michigan University] about it and some said they even heard about it and that was just so funny and crazy to me.” -Emily Grunewald, friend since preschool
“I thought it was hilarious! Both the event and that my friends down at school [Butler University] knew about it.” -Dylan Goodman, friend since elementary schoolI even asked the organization if they remember seeing it and their reactions to finding out I created it:
“I do remember seeing it and my thought was ‘god all the amazing work Tt does and as talented as she is, this is what's going viral. I hate the internet’” -Matthew Yapp, Managing Editor
“Yes. When I first saw it I honestly didn't realize you had created it. So I was honestly really surprised when I found out something that went viral was made by someone I knew!” -Emily Reuben, Editor-In-Chief
“I wasn’t exactly aware of its exact creation but I remember one day on Facebook seeing a whole slew of images with funny Bean events. I thought it was really funny especially considering the kind of person the artist of the bean is, too. To have his creation become a meme was, in a funny way, a middle finger to him. That was my initial reaction.” -Isabella Torres, Assistant Creative Director
“I remember laughing my ass off for a couple minutes and thinking ‘Jesus, how far is this meme gonna go?’ Then I showed my roommate who’s from Chicago and he laughed pretty hard too. Then when I found out you made it, I thought good for you and that it was a pretty funny meme.” -Gunner Masters, Features writerThis journey was very surreal to me and it’s probably something I won’t get to experience again for a long time. A lot of people tell me that I’m famous, but I have to disagree with them. “Catapult The Bean Over Sears Tower” is just an event that happened to gain a lot of attention, and I happen to have my name attached to it. The only question remains is, do I create another event? And the answer is, maybe. If another Facebook meme presents itself on my timeline, I might consider making another, but I’m actually pretty content with this one. I love the irony of being known as the girl who created an event on a piece of art she despises. It really tells a lot about me as a person.
Images: Tt Shinkan, Know Your Meme, Redbubble Sources: Know Your Meme, Redbubble, The Bradley Scout