Refrigerator Madness

Another make-art-out-of-some-odd-object display has taken over Michigan Avenue.

The new one is interesting, although it may not generate the tourist interest like the cows or the globes or even the furniture. (Yes, we Chicagoans like to put old stuff out in the street in the summer, as well as in the winter).

It's refrigerators. Specifically, old and inefficient ones. Commonwealth Edison is sponsoring the Fine Art Fridges display to draw attention to how much excess energy old refrigerators use. These old refrigerators are usually found in basements and garages - having been replaced by newer models in the homes. But, since the old ones still work, people tend to keep them around for use as a freezer or to keep water and soda cold. According to the accompanying sign, using that back-up old refrigerator can cost a typical household up to an additional $150 a year. ComEd, however, will take your old refrigerator away, recycle it (another reason why people hesitate to discard the old refrigerator: How do you deal with safely getting rid of that coolant stuff), and give you $25.

Or, you could decorate it and haul it down to Michigan Avenue. If you do it now, no one may notice. (I'm kidding!)

This one is called ColdSpot: A Gulf Story.

It is by artist Nicole Beck.

She created a oceanside scene on a 1956 ColdSpot Super-Mart Refrigerator

A scene on one side of the FineArt Fridge

A message on the other side of the FineArt Fridge

The front of the ColdSpot Fine Art Fridge