Early this week, around 250 people gathered at Millennium Park in Chicago to shove the 110-ton steel sculpture, known to everyone as the Bean, seven inches to the left. An anonymous flyer had gone viral, according to Block Club Chicago. It named a peculiar time, 12:47 p.m. The reason given was to free a man supposedly trapped inside, who could be reached through a hidden latch door. The Bean did not budge.
The flyer is the latest chapter in a long-running hoax. An online group has been flooding local officials’ phone lines with worried calls since last summer. Alderman Brendan Reilly said at the time that nobody was trapped in the sculpture. He joked that the man had been freed years ago. His office did not respond to a request for comment on the latest push, and neither did Kapoor’s studio.
Now London wants its turn. A listing on the event platform Partiful invites residents to move Marble Arch 17.78 centimetres to the left. That is seven inches, converted with care. The description claims the top floor of the arch was once used for incarceration and that people could still be inside. Gaining access, it says, would let organisers give anyone inside a gherkin. The spelling in the listing is its own. There is no evidence that anyone is or ever was shut inside the arch.
The real history is less dramatic. John Nash designed Marble Arch in 1827 as the state entrance to the cour d’honneur of Buckingham Palace. It was moved to its present spot beside Hyde Park in 1851.
The sculpture nicknamed the Bean is about 20 metres long and 10 metres high. It has stood in Millennium Park since 2006, though its making began in 2004. Reports of its weight range from 100 to 110 tonnes. Kapoor, born in Mumbai in 1954 and based in London, won the Turner Prize in 1991 and represented Britain at the Venice Biennale in 1990. He is known for vast, reflective, void-like forms and for a long fight over the rights to the blackest paint. Cloud Gate remains one of the most photographed public sculptures in the United States.
The hoax first made headlines in July 2025. A group of satirical activists calling themselves the Man in Bean Coalition claimed on social media that a man was trapped inside. At a viral protest, members chanted a rhyme about a man in the Bean and begged Kapoor to let him out. Reilly told The Art Newspaper his office had seen a heavy rise in calls from concerned citizens. He confirmed, in jest, that the man was freed years ago.
Interest cooled over the following months, helped by what the coalition calls Big Bean Media. It returned with last weekend’s crowds. The Partiful invitation said new findings suggested a latch door under the right side of the Bean. Moving it about seven inches will give access so that the man can be offered resources. The Chicago event was hosted by a mysterious figure called gs. The London version is credited only to AK.
A statement has been issued by the organisers of global events. Londoners, it said, plan to push the arch to send a clear message that the bloke in the Bean must be freed. Moving it would show Chicago that it can be done and might inspire another attempt. The organisers want to stay anonymous and that he is an innocent bystander. He had no part in Chicago either, they said, since he was at home all weekend with his dog. The alibi was called ironclad.
On Monday, the Man in Bean Coalition said on Instagram that it was not responsible for the recent attempts. As non-violent, like-minded people, it added, it commends all action towards freeing the man.
The date for the London push has not been confirmed. The arch has stood for almost two centuries. Chicago’s Bean has just survived 250 pairs of hands. Neither monument looks nervous.
Top Photo: PC Robinson © Artlyst 2026