So this is it, the last installation of the RedBall in Chicago, which just happened to coincide with the final day of the World Music Festival. Not only was the Cultural Center and surrounding area filled with music but also the raw emotion associated with any sort of closing moment and, of course, RedBall.

And this particular site was not an easy one. Perschke decided to challenge the now seasoned RedBall team by asking them to actualize his vision of the RedBall as a 250 lb. event suspended between the second floor balcony and the windows above the south entrance. The crowd literally cheered as RedBall was rolled over the balcony and lowered into place. Just an innocent ball looming over all who enter

Right in the middle of Chicago’s urban grid, between delivery trucks, passers-by, taxi cabs, and countless business activities, the Red Ball raises. Framed by a beautiful gate, it is the only round form in sight, once again challenging the normality of the everyday landscape.

Even though plenty of folks already know about the Red Ball Project, we find ourselves bombarded with questions and curiosity. Throughout the day, I hear people talking and commenting on what they think. Now and then, someone with a lack of interest or even kind of angry brings are attention with a “this is not art”. Well, I don’t really know what people are thinking, what is art or what it is not. What I can tell, however, is that it is surprising how much time people are taking to engage with the work, how much time they devote to it: looking at it, touching it, jumping against it, taking photos, adding things to it, imagining it as a stage for something else, etc.

I have to say that “normally”, in a museum or a gallery, I don’t recall so many people appreciating some work and spending more than a minute, maybe two, in front of it. As an artist, that itself is telling to me: there is something in the Red Ball that engages the audience in a different way. People feel free to negotiate the work, to define it in their own terms. There is no institutional context pushing a preconceived understanding or a disciplined behavior. It is in the unexpected encounter of the work and the public that art, in this case, happens. Purschke’s Red Ball is, in the terms of Umberto Eco, an “Opera Aperta” (an open work), waiting to be discovered and redefined by each of its audiences, whether they like it or not, as soon as they decide to ignore, question, interact or appropriate it. It stands there, staring at us as a big red round question: what do you want me to be?

-Monica H. (RB Assistant)

Today the RedBall made it to the beach but this was no meaty mecca, it was Chess Pavilion. This is a truly lovely spot at the end of North Avenue where the serious chess players of Chicago go for an intellectual challenge any day of the week. They say Bobby Fischer used to frequent the spot, a testament to the local passion for the game if ever there was one. This is the kind of action that the RedBall thrives on but even as it did its best to shoulder on up, jury

If you haven’t ventured south to Rem Koolhaus’ McCormick Tribune Campus Center at IIT, do it. And if that first statement applies to you then you obviously missed the spectacular RedBall installation so let’s shed a little light on that right now, shall we? Talk about an incredible architectural setting for a RedBall site specific engagement! In this instance it was lodged below the tip of a 530 ft. long stainless steel tube, which was built enveloping the Green Line and resting atop a structure of metal and glass and apparently RedBall. It was certainly a sight to see, even if just for a day.

Those to encounter it consisted of faculty, students and families as well as many an architectural bus tour, not to mention the faithful followers that move from site to site right behind the RedBall personalizing the phenomenon. It is amazing how many different kinds of luscious red objects show up on the RedBall site. And since the weather was absolutely idyllic, activities such as picnics, Frisbee, volleyball and full contact chess were all definitely in order. Whatever the occasion, wherever the location, a little RedBall goes a long way.

- Rebeccah (RB Assistant)

Most of the sites to date have been extremely urban but on this day RedBall took a little break from the norm to chill in a relaxed neighborhood atmosphere. Wedged outside the Hyde Park Art Center tucked subtly behind the decorative grasses of the cafe RedBall lay in wait, like a snake, only not. And sure enough, RedBall was not disappointed as one-by-one people gathered around unsuspectingly questioning its presence. Actually, it was more extreme than that

Another day, another dollar? For some, perhaps

- Kurt Perschke

Well, metaphorically, of course. Technically speaking, the bridge at LaSalle and Wacker already existed and was in no way shape or form built by the RedBall. If anything it was the pre-existing shape or form of the bridge that allowed RedBall to hover seemingly effortlessly above the walkway below, wedged just so between metal beams and the watchtower. And ‘seemingly’ is an important word here because while the actual wedge-ed-ness or state of being wedged was in fact effortless, getting it there was not.

On this day, what was needed was a genie, some rope, a few well-placed knots, walkie-talkies, various other Q-like gadgets, a couple of the best assistants the world has ever seen, and one sip of coffee. The rest is history. I mean, not even rain could stop the team as they made the RedBall come to life yet again, safe in its temporary home and a wonder to all who passed by. And it is exactly this state of wonderment building the metaphorical bridge people. The curiosity leading to the questions leading to the conversation…no walls there, just bridges.

- Rebeccah (RB Assistant)