Glencoe’s Chicago Botanic Garden has gone gloriously bubble-mad, with giant iridescent spheres scattered across its grounds for a summer exhibition that turns ordinary garden views into shifting rainbow reflections. The Shimmering Summer experience runs through September 20, giving families plenty of time to wander, play and wonder what exactly is floating over the water.
The centerpiece is Evanescent, an immersive temporary sculpture by Atelier Sisu, the artist duo Renzo B. Larriviere and Zara Pasfield. According to the Chicago Botanic Garden, the installation appears in five spots, including the Visitor Center, Festival Field, the lawn south of the Buehler Enabling Garden, the water near the Serpentine Bridge and Farm on Ogden in Chicago.
The work is meant to echo the fragile, short-lived beauty of a soap bubble, but these versions are considerably harder to pop. WBBM Newsradio reports that the sculptures range from roughly beach-ball size to 24 feet tall, and visitors are invited to interact with the pieces as their reflective surfaces remix the surrounding plants and sky.
Free Weekend Events Add Music And Circus Skills
Shimmering Summer is more than a walk-through art installation: weekend programming at Festival Field is free with Garden admission or membership. The Garden’s current schedule includes live music from the Dreamtree Shakers next weekend, Circus Skills on August 22-23 and The Bubbler Is Back on September 12-13, according to the Chicago Botanic Garden.
That lineup gives the exhibit a distinctly family-friendly rhythm, with music, juggling, hula-hooping and bubble performances folded into the summer visit. The season is scheduled to close with an Oktoberfest-style family celebration on September 19-20, Chicago Parent reports.
Admission Starts At $16.95 For Children
Regular admission covers the exhibition and the weekend events. Chicago Parent lists Cook County admission at $24.95 for adults and $16.95 for children ages 3-12, while non-Cook County rates are $26.95 for adults and $18.95 for children; kids under age 2 attend free.
Visitors can also grab light bites and drinks from a Festival Field pop-up, including bubble skewers and bubble tea, while narrated tram tours offer another way to take in the installation. Shimmering Summer is at the Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Road in Glencoe, through September 20.
