Jarringly out-of-place in Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace and the St. Peter Mancroft Church in Norwich, England, a massive inflatable red ball perches on balconies, squeezes through doorways and hovers above the streets. The RedBall Project by Kurt Perschke has taken the sphere to public places around the world, providing a fun interactive experience.

(top image via: personnel people; above images via: leo reynolds, imaginethis55)

Coming upon the ball squeezed into an alleyway in the town of Norwich or lodged between buildings above a bridge in Chicago, you can’t help but feel a childlike sense of delight. In addition to the cities named, the RedBall project has traveled to Taipei, Grand Rapids, Toronto, Portland, Sydney, Barcelona and St. Louis as well as Scottsdale, Arizona.

(images via: rob andrews, grdadof3)

“Through the RedBall Project I utilize my opportunity as an artist to be a catalyst for new encounters within the everyday. Through the magnetic, playful, and charismatic nature of the RedBall the work is able to access the imagination embedded in all of us. On the surface, the experience seems to be about the ball itself as an object, but the true power of the project is what it can create for those who experience it. It opens a doorway to imagine what if?”

(images via: leo reynolds, harry harris)

“As RedBall travels around the world people approach me on the street with excited suggestions about where to put it in their city. In that moment the person is not a spectator but a participant in the act of imagination.”

(images via: kenneth spencer, redball project)

See more photos at RedBallProject.com or at the RedBall Flickr pool.