Balloon Museum Opens Permanent U.S. Flagship in the Tin Building, Seaport, NYC

Balloon Museum, the Italian-born project devoted to inflatable art, has opened its first permanent U.S. flagship in the Tin Building at 96 South St, in the Seaport district of Lower Manhattan. According to its official Instagram, it opened on August 7. The museum is run by Lux Entertainment, and its earlier shows have drawn more than 8 million visitors worldwide. Lux CEO Roberto Fantauzzi, who is also president of Balloon Museum LLC, said the venture began from the idea that air and inflatables could become a powerful contemporary language, and called a permanent New York home an extraordinary milestone.

The inaugural exhibition, Daydream – Air Becomes Art, takes its cue from the moment when everyday thought slips into imagination. It builds immersive rooms from air, light, sound and movement. Marina Abramović's Snowy/Windy/Spring on Planet Z is a centerpiece and reportedly her first work to use air as a primary medium. Visitors walk through shoulder-high inflatable grass and swirling artificial snow in a white, wintry environment.

Other works include Turner Prize winner Martin Creed's Work No. 3883: Half the air in a given space, which fills a transparent room with hundreds of blue balloons. In Karina Smigla-Bobinski's ADA, visitors push a helium-filled sphere studded with charcoal around the room, and it leaves marks on the walls, ceiling and floor. Alex Schweder, Thom Kubli, Boris Acket, Hyperstudio and Rub Kandy are also in the lineup, and Kandy's googly-eyed GINJOS characters have begun appearing outside the museum and around the Seaport. The exhibition's curator is Valentino Catricalà.

The rooms are meant to be touched, walked through and shared, and the show is suitable for all ages. Tickets can be booked for a set day and time, and a Flex Ticket gives access without date or time restrictions. The official page currently advertises 30% off Daydream. Group bookings and private events go through newyork@balloonmuseum.world, and ticketing support is at support@universe.com. The museum sits on the Seaport waterfront along the East River.

(Details are drawn from points that agree across reports by 6sqft, Galerie Magazine.)