Whimsical ‘Loop’ art installation arrives at Navy Pier

This week Chicago got a second Loop—the title of a new art installation at Navy Pier’s Polk Bros. Park. The free outdoor exhibit is made of cylinders resembling modern-day zoetropes, 19th-century devices that created the illusion of motion by spinning a flickering wheel.

Loop’s 13 vertical rings display animations representing different classic fairytales. Visitors sit inside the six-foot-wide circles and pump a handle like that found in old-school rail handcar. The speed of the pumping controls the animation as well as the tempo of accompanying audio recordings.

The “retro-futuristic” installation comes from the minds of designers Olivier Girouard, Jonathan Villeneuve, and Ottoblix in collaboration with Generique Design, Jerome Roy, and Thomas Ouellet Fredericks.

Before its Chicago debut on Thursday, February 28, Loop appeared in Montreal, Edmonton, Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. The interactive artwork will remain on Navy Pier’s “front lawn” through May 12, so there’s time to wait for slightly warmer weather. More info is available on Navy Pier’s website.