Martin Creed, “Half the Air in a Given Space”
Come July 15, 2026, New York City will have a new reason to be called the “City of Dreams.” Since 2021, the iconic Balloon Museum inflatable art exhibition has immersed viewers in the magical world of air-filled art installations. Originally launched in Italy, the exhibition has traveled the globe, from Miami to Madrid to Paris, and 20 other cities globally. Now, Balloon Museum is opening a permanent home in New York’s iconic Tin Building in Lower Manhattan’s Seaport, with its newest exhibition, DAYDREAM – Air Becomes Art.
DAYDREAM is a collective exhibition that brings together a host of artists to create an uncanny, vivid experience, guiding visitors through interactive landscapes that seek to invite a departure from everyday life and an entrance into the surreal realm of daydreams. Though varied in form, the installations all create a transformative experience. In Karina Smigla-Bobinski’s ADA, a helium-filled orb with charcoal spikes moves through the room, creating ever-changing markings on the walls that evolve based on how participants interact with it. Martin Creed’s Half the Air in a Given Space fills a room with balloons occupying exactly half the air in the space, inviting visitors to become lost within the work, changing its essential shape and form as the balloons inhabit the spaces between them. In Thom Kubli’s Black Hole Horizon, instruments emit tones that fill large soap bubbles before detaching and drifting through the room, creating a sense of wonder at the temporary nature of the present moment when the bubbles eventually pop.
“Through the ephemeral monumentality of air, the featured voices create spaces that loosen us from the ordinary and hold us, if only for a moment, in a state of wonder. Bringing this debut to New York allows us to explore how creative expression can open new horizons for emotion and reflection,” said Valentino Catricalà, curator of DAYDREAM.
At the center of DAYDREAM is Marina Abramović’s Snowy/Windy/Spring on Planet Z, a room filled with tall grasses and artificial snow that swirls through the air. The installation is meant to evoke how, as children, our minds drifted to distant, extraterrestrial worlds. “This newest work, whether you deem it sculpture, installation, or performance, is simply a reconnection to the awe we all experience in our childhoods,” Abramović states. “I hope it allows visitors to reconnect and discover what is possible when imagination is given space to take hold.”
Through giant, charcoal-drawing spheres, swirling snow, and balloons that take your breath away, DAYDREAM invites visitors to be transported to imaginative spaces that blur the boundaries between art, play, and fantasy.
“Balloon Museum was founded on the idea that air and inflatables could become a powerful contemporary language,” said Roberto Fantauzzi, Founder & CEO of Lux Entertainment and President of Balloon Museum LLC (USA). “Establishing a permanent home in New York is an extraordinary milestone for our organization and a reflection of how far this vision has grown.”
To learn more about Balloon Museum and purchase tickets, visit its website.
Since 2021, the iconic Balloon Museum inflatable art exhibition has immersed viewers in the magical world of air-filled art installations.
Hyperstudio, “10 Agosto”
Hyperstudio, “10 Agosto”
Now, Balloon Museum is opening a permanent home in New York’s iconic Tin Building in Lower Manhattan’s Seaport, with its newest exhibition, DAYDREAM – Air Becomes Art.
Hyperstudio with Mauro Pace, “Invisible Ballet”
Alex Schweder, “Her Joy”
DAYDREAM is a collective exhibition that brings together a host of artists to create an uncanny, vivid experience, guiding visitors through interactive landscapes that seek to invite a departure from everyday life and an entrance into the surreal realm of daydreams.
Karina Smigla-Bobinski, “ADA”
Karina Smigla-Bobinski, “ADA”
Through giant, charcoal-drawing spheres, swirling snow, and balloons that take your breath away, DAYDREAM invites visitors to be transported to imaginative spaces that blur the boundaries between art, play, and fantasy.
Marina Abramović, “Snowy/Windy/Spring on Planet Z”
Thom Kubli, “Black Hole Horizon”