Giant inflatable art installation in Toronto home to a 'choose your own adventure' concert

When Toronto's Luminato Festival pitched Aaron Schwebel with an idea for its 2025 edition, the violinist was all ears. The ask: could he curate an original concert experience, one specially designed for the Terceradix Luminarium? 

The short answer: absolutely. But what in the world is a Terceradix Luminarium?

Nobody can answer that question better than Alan Parkinson, founder of the UK-based company Architects of Air, and the designer of Terceradix Luminarium itself. "It's an environment that one goes into to lose oneself and to have an encounter with light," he explains. But if it's a more practical description you're after, think of Terceradix as a massive, inflatable art installation — one you're meant to move through like a labyrinth. 

The structure will be at the Harbourfront Centre through June 22, where it'll be pumped with air every morning, and deflated again at night. The attraction has been shipped to Toronto as part of the Luminato Festival, and on select evenings, ticket holders will be able to experience the concert Schwebel's created for the space, Music at Terceradix Luminarium: Bach & Beyond.

The structure itself measures 41 metres long and 28 metres wide, and with its crowned domes of red, blue, yellow and green, the exterior resembles a bouncy castle fit for King Koopa. Please note, however, the mood inside Terceradix is decidedly more chill. Rambunctious trampolining is a no-no. 

Inside, the bubbly tunnels and nooks of Terceradix are awash with glowing, kaleidoscopic colour. The effect is produced by sunlight filtering through strategically placed PVC portholes, and Architects of Air has been designing similar pneumatic wonders since 1992.

Their installations tour internationally, and a different luminarium travelled to Ottawa and Penticton, B.C., earlier this spring, in fact. But according to Parkinson, Terceradix is unique among the company's creations. No luminarium produces the same quantity of shades, he says. "I'd say they're infinite," he laughs. "The colours don't even have names."

Just looking at photos of the company's work, Schwebel was immediately inspired. "In my mind, [Terceradix] is a perfect setting for a musical experience," he says.

"I mean, I love sitting down in a concert hall, but being able to revolutionize the way that we experience music?" Once he'd seen pictures of the installation's alcoves, Schwebel began to imagine what would bring people "deeper into their experience."

The result is Bach & Beyond, a casual, hour-long concert that will be happening inside Terceradix on select evenings during the Luminato Festival, and as the title should suggest, the musical selections cover a range of eras. The program does, indeed, feature some Bach — but also Simon and Garfunkel — and it's performed by two violinists, Diane Dahyeon Kim and Daria Skibitskaya.

Like all visitors to the Terceradix, the concert audience will be instructed to take off their shoes before entering. Then, they're free to explore — with open ears. "It's sort of a choose your own adventure as a listener," says Schwebel. "There's no assigned seats. It's not restrictive like that … which I love." Instead, he imagines most folks will be compelled to follow the sound of the music. In that way, the performers are a little like "musical tour guides," he says. 

When Parkinson spends time in a luminarium, he lets the experience wash over him. "I like to wander around and just let it fill my eyes," he says. "Other times, I might just look for a quiet corner and try to have a little sleep," he says. "It's an interesting place to wake up in. It's another world," he says, with a laugh. 

Maybe it's a prime spot for a nap, but is Terceradix a good place to hear a concert? Over the years, luminaria have hosted a variety of programming, says Parkinson, and he says music can be an especially powerful complement to the experience. "In the luminarium, you do get these resonances, and so in a way, it does quite suit a more spiritual kind of sound experience," he says. "A choir singing can be wonderful," for example.

Schwebel says he's designed Bach & Beyond to be "fun, lyrical, comical and meditative — feelings the Terceradix itself might evoke for visitors. "It's not your typical concert," he says. "Being able to lie down and have musicians wander through — that's a special experience you don't get to have very often as a concert goer."

Music at Terceradix Luminarium: Bach & Beyond. Curated by Aaron Schwebel. Presented by the Luminato Festival. Harbourfront Centre, Toronto. June 5 to 8 and 19 to 22. 

Terceradix Luminarium by Architects of Air. Harbourfront Centre, Toronto. To June 22. www.luminatofestival.com