‘Beach Chicago’ interactive art experience headed to Navy Pier

If you can envision more than a million plastic balls, alongside deck chairs, lifeguard chairs and sand umbrellas along Chicago’s lakefront, then you can envision Beach Chicago.

The whimsical immersive and fully interactive art installation (including sounds of oceanfront waves) runs Jan. 19 through Feb. 3 inside Navy Pier’s 18,000-square-foot grand ballroom — and it’s free to the public. Created by the New York-based Snarkitecture, the installation is on an international tour, making Chicago only its third stop in the U.S.

The exhibit’s tall enclosure is filled with the sea of antimicrobial plastic balls that elicit the sensation of a “day at the beach,” according to the design collaborative of Alex Mustonen, Daniel Arsham and Ben Porto, the visionaries/artists behind The Beach concept.

For hours of operation visit navypier.com.