Balloon Museum Opens Its First Permanent Home at the Tin Building in NYC's Seaport

The Balloon Museum, a project devoted to inflatable art, has opened its first permanent U.S. location in the Tin Building at the South Street Seaport, 96 South St. The museum began in Italy in 2021 and has since toured exhibitions across Europe, North America and Asia. It is conceived and produced by Lux Entertainment, and the Seaport space is its American flagship. It opened on August 7.

The inaugural exhibition, Daydream: Air Becomes Art, is curated by Valentino Catricalà. It turns air, light, sound and movement into environments that visitors walk through, touch and help activate, rather than simply look at.

The centerpiece is Marina Abramović's Snowy/Windy/Spring on Planet Z, described as a glowing white, extraterrestrial meadow of shoulder-high inflatable grass and swirling artificial snow. Galerie reports it is her first work to use air as a primary medium. Turner Prize winner Martin Creed contributes Work No. 3883: Half the air in a given space, which fills part of a gallery with bright blue balloons. Karina Smigla-Bobinski's ADA is a giant floating sphere studded with charcoal that visitors push around the room, leaving marks on the walls. Other artists include Alex Schweder, Thom Kubli, Boris Acket, Hyperstudio and Rub Kandy, whose googly-eyed GINJOS characters have been appearing outside the museum and around the Seaport.

The corrugated-metal building dates to 1907. It was most recently home to Jean-Georges Vongerichten's food market, which closed in February.

The show is meant for all ages and the museum is open seven days a week. Reported ticket prices are $40 for adults 18 to 65, $33 for teens, seniors and adults with disabilities, and $26 for children 12 and under, with family packages also offered. The official site also sells a Flex Ticket valid without a set date or time. The nearest subway stops are Fulton St (A/C/J/2/3/4/5) and City Hall (R/W).

(Details are drawn from points that agree across reports by Galerie Magazine, Downtown Alliance, Secret NYC.)