The Balloon Museum

The Balloon museum is a travelling museum which started in Italy, and collaborates with Japan's Team Lab. They have different names for their Exhibits. The one in Los Angeles is called Let's Fly. It's an inflatable art exhibit located inside Ace Mission Studios in the Arts District of downtown L.A. My friend and I went inside through a colorful tunnel, up a set of steps with Pegasus hanging above our heads. An employee scanned our tickets and gave us shoe covers.

The first experience is AI Data Portal of Ouchh—a tunnel with mirrored floors and walls. Lights, beads, and forms are created through digital projection. The mingling plethora of bright colors is dizzying, and to adjust, we moved about slowly at first. This introduction to the exhibit sets the tone for a hypnotic experience, and effected our minds in a positive way.

In the above video, Zeros SpY, I thought that the black rubbers looked like donuts. My friend thought that they resembled car tires. The Balloon Museum's website said that it conjures up "the image of an enormous animal that shifts ponderously." Each person's engagement with the environment, and their interpretation of art is different. Investors buy art, hoping for the price to go up. For others, art is personal, a work relished based on how it makes us feel.

Hyperstellar is consisted of a pool of black balls, and a ceiling of black balloons. You can jump in backwards, or walk in. I was tempted to jump in backwards, except that I have an old back injury, and didn't want to aggravate it. So, I walked in, and moved about. Later, my brother told me that I'm such a child. May be so. But I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think everyone should experience it as an adult.

The show began, stimulating and relaxing the audience at the same time. The combination of sound, lights, and digital technology were a nostalgic reminder of Japan's Team Lab which I wrote about here.

Christopher Schardt's Mariposa, a butterfly sculpture, 26 foot wide. It was soothing to sit on the swing beneath it, rock back and forth, and cause the wings to flap. My friend and I could've sat under it for a longtime, but we left after a few minutes to give other visitors a chance to experience it. 

There is plenty to see here, and absorb. So, do take your time. At the end, you can put on headsets, and experience virtual reality. If you live in L.A or if the exhibit is coming to your city, go see it. It's worth it. For me, it stimulated my senses, and opened my energy to want to create, and work on my manuscript.