After an acclaimed European run, Balloon Museum in NYC features contemporary art exhibition ‘Let’s Fly’

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — For a family-fun excursion, plan a trip to Manhattan for a first-of-its-kind balloon extravaganza. On Friday, Oct. 27, the Balloon Museum made its highly-anticipated stateside arrival to Pier 36 in Manhattan with a new exhibition, “Let’s Fly.” The unique experience is open until January 2024.

Balloon Museum produces a contemporary art exhibition featuring inflatable and balloon art. Featuring renowned artists with specific works in which “air” is a distinctive element, the individual exhibitions offer unique, immersive journeys worldwide.

Featuring mind-blowing inflatable installations created by 13 diverse international artists, the large-scale museum aims to transport visitors into a beautiful world of contemporary art that is meant to be touched, moved and felt.

“We are thrilled to be bringing Balloon Museum to the U.S., and especially to the arts capitol, New York City,” said Roberto Fantauzzi, president of Italian-based Lux Holding. “We have had the honor to collaborate with brilliant and innovative leading artists from across the globe to design this massive exhibition, and look forward to bringing New York on the journey of completely immersive, living, breathing art.”

This limited-time run of the Balloon Museum takes over every centimeter of Pier 36′s sprawling 80,000 square foot venue, including the exterior. Pier 36 is located at 299 South St.

Over 2.5 million visitors across the globe have already experienced the large-scale, mesmerizing experience, which many will recognize as the can’t-miss backdrop in the Emmy-nominated favorite “Emily in Paris” on Netflix last season.

Tickets to the Balloon Museum in New York City start at $35 for children and $45 for adults and are available to purchase at Balloonmuseum.world/nyc-tickets.

The most impressive exhibition, in my opinion, is the giant ball pit, filled with seemingly million of plastic balloons. The experience is heightening by dramatic lighting and music, and is something that needs to be felt, seen, and heard in person to grasp the artistic merits — and fun — of this installation.

LET’S FLY

The New York City exhibition titled “Let’s Fly” will showcase diverse artworks that explore the lightness and flight of air, allowing audiences to soar and travel to far-off destinations, uniquely contrasted with heaviness, darkness and gravity.

The museum will feature fan favorites from European runs, including reimagined installations by Hyperstudio, Karina Smigla-Bobinski, Cyril Lancelin, EENESS, Rub Kandy, and Quiet Ensemble, and will also include NYC-specific debuts from artists and studios such as: Camila Falsini, Michael Shaw, OUCHHH, Sasha Frolova, Sila Sveta, SpY Studio, and Tadao Cern.

Wear comfortable shoes and brig a fully-charged camera because there are Instagrammable moments at every turn.

ABOUT THE INSTALLATIONS

The Balloon Museum installations include, among others, “A Quiet Storm by Quiet Ensemble,” founded by Fabio di Salvo and Bernardo Vercelli, which allows the audience to pass through an environment that awakens childlike wonder, the magic of small things, and is a commentary on the fragility of everything.

“ADA,” created by German artist Karina Smigla-Bobinski in 2017, offers a real experience based on gestures and happenstance. The work was conceived in memory of Ada Lovelace, a pioneer in computer science who, in collaboration with Charles Babbage, created the first computer program in 1842.

“AI Data Portal of NY,” by OUCHHH, an immersive installation presents to the public, through abstract images, a collection of environmental data about the air in New York City. It’s a work that by its nature transports the viewer into another world, but at the same time is strongly site specific.

MORE INSTALLATIONS

“D.R.E.A.M.S.” is by Camila Falsini, an artist and illustrator from Rome. Falsini’s work is characterized by clear lines, stylized and minimal shapes and strong colors. The inflatable structures and sculptures that populate this installation will represent the characteristic elements of an imaginary city, inviting all visitors to immerse and inhabit this fantasy world.

“Flying Maze,” by the French artist Cyril Lancelin, is an inflatable version of a labyrinth, taking as a reference the structure of the typical Italian gardens of the 1500s. “Flying Maze” will sends visitors into an imaginary habitat of geometric shapes that are usual, but assembled in such a way as to make us lose our bearings.

“ZEROS,” by SpY Studio, is a large kinetic installation. The slow movement of the inflatable elements, combined with a specially designed soundtrack, create a unique, highly emotional interaction in which the viewer can feel consumed by the environment.

For more information about the Balloon Museum, visit balloonmuseum.world. Follow the exhibition on social media at @balloon_museum on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.