Begg
Roller Coaster and Waiting Rooms
Toronto Sculpture Garden
April 15 - October 12 2026
Commissioned by the City of Toronto
Resin bead fabrication: Jessica Rysyk
Steel fabrication and installation: Discreet and Discrete
Image Credit: Darren Rigo
This installation draws upon the familiar “bead roller coaster” toy to explore the intersection of calm and movement within our lives. For many, this toy evokes a sense of nostalgia as a staple in the waiting rooms of doctors’ and dentists’ offices over the past several decades. By drawing on memories of waiting rooms and the sense of motion that this toy naturally suggests, the sculpture is a reinterpretation on a larger scale that becomes a metaphor for life’s complex rhythms. It is a place where the competing forces of waiting and constant movement can coexist and be experienced together.
This sculpture is meant to challenge the viewer to question whether they are in a moment of stillness or movement, or if it can be both. It asks us to hold onto dualities: could this moment have both joy and hardship? Both hope and worry? The intention of the installation is to leave the viewer with a renewed sense of appreciation for the beauty of life’s twists and turns, the quiet power of connection, and the joy of experiencing the present with the curiosity of a child.
Image Credit: Darren Rigo
The installation is designed so the colourful resin beads are able to spin on the steel tubes, creating an interactive experience.
The sculpture is also meant to reflect the Toronto Sculpture Garden. The space is a throughway with a path that links busy areas of the city, with people often seen hustling along to their next destination. At the same time, the space is a place for respite, where people are found pausing during their day for a moment of stillness. This is true for many city parks in Toronto, where those in metaphorical waiting rooms and those on roller coaster brush past each other, taking what they need from the space at the moment. It is often quite easy to be caught inside these perspectives with a narrow vision of self-interest. One of the intents of the sculpture is to allow people to zoom out to a larger perspective and consider the diversity of experience that passes through the Toronto Sculpture Garden every day.
Image Credit: Darren Rigo
Image Credit: Darren Rigo
Image Credit: Darren Rigo
Image Credit: Darren Rigo
Image Credit: Darren Rigo
Image Credit: Darren Rigo
Image Credit: Darren Rigo
Image Credit: Darren Rigo