Balloons are associated with happiness, holidays and celebrations. Every year, New York City is full of giant balloons for Thanksgiving, making this holiday memorable. For a limited time only, New Yorkers get to experience the interactive art pieces at the infamous “Balloon Museum,” which is taking over Pier 36 in the Seaport this fall.
The “Balloon Museum” originated in 2020 in Rome, Italy. Since then, it has toured all around Europe, welcoming over 2.5 million visitors to Rome, Paris, Milan and Madrid exhibitions.
Moreover, “Balloon Museum” is the Winner of the prestigious 2022 BEA Best Proprietary Format award, focusing on belonging to the new generation. Collectives of architects, artists and designers have been developing artwork that focuses on inflatable art, a movement that began in the mid-20th century. In the 1960s, the two artists Andy Warhol and Claes Oldenburg created the first air-filled pieces that are still considered the most spectacular examples of this movement. Since then, inflatable art has developed, but it has always followed its main purpose: to let people experience something bigger than life through art.
The newest exhibit, “Let’s Fly,” allows visitors to become artists. When visiting a museum, you can often see a sign saying “Please Do Not Touch Artwork.” In this experience, on the other hand, you get a chance to fully immerse yourself in the atmosphere and interact with all the installations. 14 international artists created 14 different art pieces, from the most inflatable to the most colorful ones, that stimulate the senses. The exhibition tries to break from the typical, traditional museum experience and bring the concepts of “freedom, flight and access” to life. It highlights the importance of modern art and reveals the nature of inflatables.
Among the showcased artists you can see the works of the Italian muralist Calima Falsini with her original colorful graphic creations, American artist Sasha Frolova who brought to life the inflatable latex sculptures that have won over the hearts of many, French visual artist Cyril Lancelin, who created a monumental and luminous labyrinth or American art creator Michael Shaw with his Lava Lamp installation.
Other artwork that you can expect to see includes infinity rooms, virtual journeys with the usage of VR sets, and moving inflatable creatures.
The main artistic production and “attraction” that everyone is eager to experience is a 4,000-square-foot ball pit. The room with this installation has amazing aesthetic lighting and is decorated in a way that brings people to some mystical fairytale land.
The exhibition takes place inside and outside of the 80,000-square-foot space, and is running from Oct. 27 to Jan. 14. It is an extraordinary exhibition where you can also get a lot of fun and aesthetic pictures for your Instagram.
The walk around the museum takes about 90 minutes to check out every installation. Although the tickets may be a little expensive, starting from $41 for children and $52 for adults, including fees and taxes, it’s totally worth it.
Looking up the photos, the place may look familiar to you – that’s because it was featured in the last season of the popular Netflix TV show Emily in Paris.
If you are staying in the city, devote your time to visit this exhibition during the upcoming Thanksgiving break.
