Looking Up

A silver figure more than 30 feet tall stands with its head tipped back, gazing at the sky beside the Missouri River in Council Bluffs. "Looking Up" is by the artist Tom Friedman and stands in Tom Hanafan River's Edge Park, by the Iowa entrance of the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge. The Iowa West Foundation describes the polished stainless-steel piece as a quasi-human figure that invites visitors to stand at its base and look up too, and says both versions were cast from maquettes Friedman made from aluminium roasting pans, tin foil and takeaway containers. WOWT quoted the foundation's president, Brenda Mainwaring, describing it as a recycled sculpture that looks like something from your own kitchen.

The first version arrived on loan in May 2019, arranged by the foundation's PACE initiative through an anonymous donor, after earlier showings on Chicago's lakefront and New York's Park Avenue. It left for a private collection in December 2020. Mainwaring said the community missed it, so the anonymous donor commissioned Friedman to make a site-specific permanent version, matched by the Iowa West Foundation, which says no taxpayer money paid for either. It was placed on 13 April 2021. The foundation says the permanent version is taller than the 33.3-foot original; WOWT and the Unleash CB tourism site give 33 feet. WOWT reported in 2021 that the free Otocast app carries an audio guide from the artist.