Hidden within a parking garage in Hyde Park, surrounded by ordinary vehicles, stands a striking gray anomaly. It’s a car, but it’s also a tomb—a classic Cadillac permanently encased in concrete.
This isn’t an extreme case of a parking boot; it’s one of the city’s most intriguing and lasting pieces of public art. The story of “Concrete Traffic,” a real car trapped in a solid block of concrete that has been a part of the city’s cultural landscape for over 50 years.
But how did a Cadillac come to be encased in 16 tons of cement? And why has it become a permanent fixture in a university parking structure?
A look inside the 1963 Cadillac, forever entombed in 16 tons of cement in Chicago
The installation began on January 16, 1970, when the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago supported an idea from German artist Wolf Vostell, a figure in the Fluxus movement known for challenging traditional art concepts. Vostell proposed encasing a classic 1963 Cadillac de Ville, a symbol of American consumerism and freedom, entirely in concrete.
The art was a public event held in a parking lot near the museum. Once completed, this massive sculpture was gifted to the University of Chicago and placed outdoors on its campus. For nearly 40 years, “Concrete Traffic” stood exposed to the elements. The city’s harsh weather took its toll, causing the concrete to crack and erode over the decades.
In the 2010s, the university, with assistance from the Smart Museum of Art, launched a significant restoration project.
In 2016, after years of careful work, the 32,000-pound sculpture was lifted by a crane onto a flatbed truck for its final move. The concrete car received a full police escort, with its lights flashing as it rolled through the streets to its new, protected home.
Today, it resides in the Campus North Parking Garage at 5501 S. Ellis Avenue in Hyde Park. The installation is free and open to the public on the ground floor.
