:: Photo by Dan Dry

Chicago Journal ::

Tabula rasa

Eight-foot diameter balloons suspended from Cobb’s fourth-floor ceiling for the Renaissance Society’s spring show Atoms Inside Balloons: 25

Days graffiti-inspired artist Katharina Grosse took to spray paint the balloons and the gallery’s floor, walls, and ceiling: 4

Ounces of paint Grosse used: 896

Coats of wax laid to protect the floor from the paint: 2

Exhibits held since the Renaissance Society’s last renovation in 1979: 145

Buckets needed to collect rainwater leaking from Cobb’s roof into the gallery: at least 2

Hours painters spent scraping and repainting the gallery after the Atoms show: 700

Gallons of latex paint used to restore the gallery to its original “super white”: 40

Miles of raw footage that British artist Steve McQueen recorded to recreate the Congo River journey in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness: 2.3

Days spent editing McQueen’s raw footage: 20

Minutes of McQueen’s final product, Gravesend, which has its U.S. premiere at the Renaissance Society September 16: 17