The Only Museum With All Inflatable Art Is A Bizarre, One-Of-A-Kind Experience

There was a time when balloon art was limited to the squeaky twists and ties of a clown at a birthday party, as they spun poodles, giraffes, and snakes. It began to earn a little more cred when comedian Steve Martin pumped them into his act. But it was artist Jeff Koons who really raised the bar, with balloon-art inspired works made of Limoges porcelain and stainless steel. His pieces now sell for millions and feature in modern art museums, including the Artemizia Foundation in the underrated artsy town of Bisbee, Arizona. Today, balloon art has gone mainstream and is expanding in all senses of the word. Perhaps nowhere is this more visible than in the traveling Balloon Museum, which continues to raise spirits when it touches down in cities like Milan, Madrid, London, and New York.

Its next stop is Los Angeles, with the exhibition "Let's Fly," featuring the work of 21 accomplished international artists, including Tadao Cern, Myeongbeom Kim, and Sasha Frolova. All present inflatable art installations that confound and captivate the senses. This might be 180 silver balloons moving back-and-forth through a room filled with mirrors and strobe lighting, 10 black inflatable circles synchronized into choreographed movements, or other balloons inflated by wind instruments creating sounds as they do. The newest addition, "Mariposa," by the California-based artist Christopher Schardt — who's exhibited at the Smithsonian American Art Museum — flies a gigantic butterfly illuminated by more than 39,000 full-color LED lights.

The Balloon Museum has been crisscrossing the world for three years, since its founding in Rome in 2021. "Let's Fly" is just one of the exhibitions, too. European cities saw two others, "Emotion Air" and "Pop Air." The first explored the relationship between art and emotions, while the second let each artist interpret the element of air in their own way. While the results may provide visitors with hours of entertainment, they also hope to inspire a new appreciation. "This is an art exhibition," said Jesus Gonzalez, exhibition manager for the Balloon Museum, to the Los Angeles Daily News. "We're not talking about something that's just playful. It is playful but it is beyond that, it's a serious exhibition."

That said, the Balloon Museum breaks one rule of most exhibitions — no touching. In fact, it encourages it . In one piece, visitors can wade through a three-foot pool of hollow plastic balls. That makes the Balloon Museum ideal for children — adding one more entry to the best children's museums In America. For adults, it brings back childhood wonder, which is one of the goals, explained lead curator, Antonella Di Lullo, to the Guardian. "The idea is that the balloon brings everybody to the child's age." It also makes the museum a social media darling. Photos and shares are encouraged. The Balloon Museum may not match the glamour of the best celebrity hotspots in Los Angeles, but it will probably be more memorable.