Redball at City Hall

The Toronto Star says "RedBall Project from Kurt Perschke features a giant red ball that uses the city itself as a canvas. It will be at a different location every day: today it's at Nathan Phillips Square 100 Queen St. W, at 11 a.m."




The great big ball, appropriately coloured red, is currently wedged under the concrete overpass leading into Nathan Phillips Square and City Hall from the intersection of Queen Street West and Bay Street. There were a couple dressed in tennis clothes pretending to hit the ball with their racquets; I think the score was 15 love. After awhile a soccer game broke out but it had to be cancelled as the turf was not real.

While I have a hard time understanding some art installations I find pleasure in looking at the big, red ball.

Redball at Old City Hall

Kurt Perschke's big, red ball continues to make it's rounds throughout the downtown core of Toronto as part of Luminato. Today it tries to get into the Old City Hall at 60 Queen Street West.





This art installation also continues to be accessible to the public, lean on it, push it, take a picture with you beside it, or just stand there and enjoy it. Redball allows you to "re-imagine familiar landmarks."

Picture by Ann Hamilton.

I will try to catch the ball when it goes to First Canadian Place on Tuesday (click here for the photos of the FCP installation). You can see my post and pictures when the ball was at the new City Hall here.

You can see Redball at Ryerson University, Podium Building, 350
Victoria St on Friday June 11, Queen St West alley, 567 - 569 Queen St W on Saturday June 12 and Harbourfront Centre on Sunday June 14.

You can also catch my latest post at torontogp.blogspot.com.

Redball gets an education

Redball makes it to Ryerson University to get some book learning while still managing to hit on the undergraduates. Perched above the ground suspended on handrails beside a balcony the big, red ball gets some face time with the university crowd. At one point he was swarmed by a gaggle of small children delighted in the sheer size of the ball.

I understand the artist, Kurt Perschke, is in the area so I will head back later to see if I can get a photo of him and to check if the ball gets a graduation cap and gown. Update: I managed to find Kurt (that's him on the right in the following photo) and talked to him about his art.

Kurt Perschke is a very approachable sculpture and I congratulated him on his project, especially how fun it was. I also talked to him about how he came to create Redball. He said he was looking for something that involved the existing cityscape. He has done a number of art installations but they were limited to the U.S. including "Seaside" which involved the beach and lines of flags. He has an unusual piece called "Flask" and he said it was a cast of two arms that he made after giving blood - that's his blood in the flask.

I guess the Taxpayer Federation had been around, upset at the expenditure of taxpayer funds contributing to Redball's participation in Luminato. I think it was a good use of money.

See my earlier posts to check Redball at various locations throughout Toronto.

Birds in the water, ball under the walkway

When seagulls aren't dive bombing you and trying to steal your food they often chill in the water, thinking of ways to steal more food off you. These birds are in the pond at Nathan Phillips Square.

The Square is in a little bit of a mess as construction continues on the makeover. Even the Peace Garden is being stripped down.

The approach of Fall means that soon the pond will be emptied and made ready for ice skating.

I remember when Redball visited Toronto in 2009 and was squeezed under the elevated walkway. The big red ball was here during Luminato and you can see more of it around Toronto on my posts here.

RedBall Toronto and Luminato Festival 2026

June in Toronto is full of art, beauty and PRIDE. Luminato Festival brings art to buildings and streets with a number of installations, film, dance, music and much, much more on their 20th anniversary.

From their website, "Luminato Festival transforms the people, places, and possibilities of Toronto with extraordinary art experiences. Every June we present bold, playful, and of the moment art for all to enjoy. Distinctly Toronto, proudly Canadian and totally Global, we welcome the world to explore our streets, stages and stories. Encounter our city like never before."

I personally love free art and events so I am looking forward to three installations and a Circus! The big, red ball - for some reason known as RedBall, Anthems of Colour, Pyramid Fields and the circus - Camion d’Intervention Artistique - CIART. In addition to this small sample the festival calendar is full of events and attractions, so go crazy and find your favourites.

RedBall was last in Toronto in 2009 (see one of my posts here) and is returning for five days from June 3 to June 7. I love RedBall, much like I like the giant rubber ducky from the Waterfront Festival, and I am glad that RedBall by Kurt Perschke is back for Luminato 2026. "The iconic RedBall appears somewhere in the city. Each day it appears in a new location—wedged between buildings, perched on staircases, or tucked into alleyways. Whether people follow the ball’s journey or encounter it by chance, each interaction is unique and special."

RedBall Toronto 2026 Schedule
Wednesday, June 3 – Sunday, June 7, 2026

June 3 - Old City Hall 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
June 4 - TMU Student Learning Centre 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
June 5 - St. Lawrence Market North 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM
June 5 - Meridian Hall 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM
June 6 - Harbour Square Park West 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
June 7 - Regent Park Aquatic Centre 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM

Pyramid Fields by Cyril Lancelin is another installation using "surreal scultpures" that glow at night. "Drawing on the pyramid’s long-standing symbolism of stability and balance, the work reimagines the form as soft, temporary, and immersive—inviting audiences to step inside these storey-high grid inspired structures. The installations are positioned next to the modernist lines of the TD Centre, designed by Mies van der Rohe, and Eberhardt Zeidler's CF Toronto Eaton Centre, creating a striking contrast between the brilliantly coloured pyramids and the surrounding dark steel-and-glass architecture."

Anthems to Colour by artist Liz West will appear in three buildings in the downtown core. The sculptures are colourful surfaces that work with light, changing with the location of the sun. "Across three Brookfield Properties locations in downtown Toronto, British artist Liz West creates sculptural works using coloured acrylic, mirrored surfaces, and refracted light. Designed to respond to the movement of the sun, the installations shift throughout the day: grids of coloured panels glow against glass facades, mirrored elements reflect and multiply surrounding architecture, and translucent walls scatter prismatic colour into the space around them."

Brookfield Place

Bay Adelaide Centre courtyard

The free circus comes to town and will appear in Sankofa Square on Friday, June 12 followed by a move to Harbourfront Centre from Saturday, June 13 to Sunday, June 14. "Camion d’Intervention Artistique - CIART is a unique immersive show presented on a real fire truck converted into a vertical stage. Led by colourful characters, the project combines aerial acrobatics, physical theatre, music, and monumental scenography. Created with collaborators from Cirque du Soleil, CIART offers powerful and accessible dramaturgy designed to bring all audiences together. Each performance transforms public spaces into spectacular worlds where imagination reigns supreme."

@jmhcet #redball is back in #Toronto for #luminato2026. #redballtoronto ♬ Let Me Entertain You - Robbie Williams

@jmhcet #pyramidfields #artinstallation for #luminato 2026. #Toronto ♬ Crumblin' Down - John Mellencamp

Cherry Beach ball drop

A crane was setup in the otherwise empty parking lot along Cherry Street in #Toronto. The crane supported two people hanging from a rope and each of the people held onto a large red ball. A long rope ran from the people to a scissor lift where several assistants on the ground tugged on the rope, bringing the people high into the air ready for gravity to move them swiftly along a circular trajectory skimming only metres above the hard asphalt. Nearing the bottom of the slope the people let go of the balls which dropped towards a circular, white target. Actually, watching the video it turns out the balls were thick water balloons. One didn't even break on the drop, someone threw it up in the air and then it exploded on contact - see the video below.

It very much seemed like an episode of Mythbusters was being filmed.

moonGARDEN in Toronto

Big, glowing globes are setup on the steps of the Richmond-Adelaide Centre, right beside the giant sculpture called 'Dreaming'. The globes are part of the Lucien Traveling Light installation 'moonGARDEN' and you can find them on the courtyard off of Adelaide Street, just west of Bay Street in downtown Toronto.

These aren't just any globes, no these have travelled the world since 2012, beginning in Montreal and viewed by over 1 million people, slightly similar to a big, red ball like the one found in Toronto many years ago placed at different locations around the city, or the series of red balls found hanging in Brookfield Place. These globes are lit from within and the colours change randomly, putting on a show that comes alive as darkness descends on the city.

YouTube video of the installation at night

From Lucion's website; "The ambiance for the show was inspired by the theory of sets, a branch of mathematics that illustrates notions of sets and belonging. For us, moonGARDEN is the perfect metaphor for a more inclusive world. The installation consists in 6 to 25 self-inflating spheres from 6 to 30 feet in diameter. The cut-outs are made by laser in keeping with a predefined storyline and then assembled on rotating platforms. The sequence based on a single stream of light produces an enchanting animation reminiscent of the lamps that made shadows dance on the walls when we were kids."

Long Wave at Brookfield Place

The Allen Lambert Galleria hosts the new commission from Toronto artist David Rokeby. The L'Oreal Luminato public art installation is perfect for long, high arch that runs lengthwise between the adjacent buildings. From the Brookfield website "Entitled long wave, the artwork forms a visual representation of a modified sine wave, the invisible structure of all transmitting devices."



Curiously enough this is an arrangement of a lot of large, red balls although these balls are not as big as the one used in the other luminato installation - Redball. One artist I know says that she considers this one more "art" than the big, red ball which is squished into places where it does not fit (but she still thinks Redball is fun).

I, on the other hand, love both the Long Wave and the Redball installations. Two thumbs up.

Redball at First Canadian Place

Follow the bouncing ball: with the life of a carefree tourist the giant inflatable ball is hitting some of Toronto's famous locations. I think it was trying to break into First Canadian Place, maybe to have a drink or two during it's stay in the Big Smoke. Unfortunately it has put on too much vacation weight and over estimated the size of the entrance. Embarrassed, the ball turned bright red.





I would like to see this ball used on the beaches of Ashbridges Bay during a game of volleyball. You can see more pictures of the Redball at Old City Hall at my post here.

L'OREAL Paris Beauty Tent

Luminato and L'OREAL, partners in creativity, launch the 2009 Luminato; the Toronto Festival of Arts + Creativity. L'OREAL have set up their beauty tent at Yonge-Dundas Square and offer complimentary summer beauty makeovers from June 5th to the 7th. Two masters of the craft were on hand to help provide expert advise - L’Oréal Paris’ official makeup artist, Eddie Maleterre (pictured above) and official hair artist and colourist, Eric Del Monaco.


A lovely reporter from CP24 was doing interviews in the tent during the event setup.

The main stage in the square has been made ready for tonight's 7:00PM free opening concert with Randy Bachman of The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive.

I will go over to Nathan Phillips Square as one Luminato exhibit called Redball is supposed to be there by 11AM, and yes it is supposed to be a big, red ball.