Art & Culture

The Balloon Museum Unveils Inaugural Exhibition at First US Flagship

“DAYDREAM—Air Becomes Art” goes on view when the institution opens inside Manhattan’s Tin Building on July 15

June 4, 2026

Person walking through an abstract room with tall grass and raindrops inside a minimalist white space. — Rendering of Marina Abramović *Snowy / Windy / Spring on the Planet Z* (2026). Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Balloon Museum

Ahead of the July 15 flagship opening, the Balloon Museum is offering a first look at its inaugural exhibition, which features works by Marina Abramović, Martin Creed, Alex Schweder, Thom Kubli, and more. Titled “DAYDREAM—Air Becomes Art,” the exhibition features site-specific works and ambitious inflatable commissions befitting of the institution’s first permanent location inside lower Manhattan’s Tin Building.

“Balloon Museum was founded on the idea that air and inflatables could become a powerful contemporary language,” says Roberto Fantauzzi, founder and CEO of Lux Entertainment and president of Balloon Museum LLC. “Establishing a permanent home in New York is an extraordinary milestone for our organization and a reflection of how far this has grown.”

Person surrounded by large blue balloons in a reflective room, looking up with hands reaching towards the balloons. — Martin Creed *Work No. 3883: Half the air in a given space,* (2026). Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Balloon Museum

Abramović’s immersive installation, titled Snowy/Windy/Spring on Planet Z, is central to the exhibition and is inspired by childhood imagination. “Creating this world through the language of inflatables felt like the perfect medium to bring it to life,” Abramović previously said in a statement. “The balloon is, fundamentally, a childhood object. But beyond its innocence, the balloon carries a deeper philosophical charge. Its existence depends entirely on air. It is an object made from the most immaterial of substances, and yet it takes on form, weight, even personality. In this way, it is very close to performance itself.” Creed’s contribution, Work No. 3883: Half the air in a given space, fills a room with hundreds of blue balloons, while Schweder’s Our Breath, Her Joy, evokes lungs breathing in and out.

Abstract sculpture made of reflective black and white tiles creating a curved, geometric form on a contrasting background. — Alex Schweder *Our Breath, Her Joy* (2026). Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Balloon Museum

“Daydream speaks to a culture that has made escape and emotional intensity part of everyday life,” says Valentino Catricalá, the exhibition’s curator. “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.”

Art installation with spherical speakers and bubbles in a minimalist room, creating a futuristic ambiance. — Thom Kubli *Black Hole Horizon,* (2026). Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Balloon Museum

People interacting with a large, spherical art installation in a modern, white gallery space. — Karina Smigla-Bobinski *ADA,* (2026). Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Balloon Museum

Thom Kubli presents Black Hole Horizon, which turns sound into matter to release drifting, choreographed soap bubbles, and Boris Acket’s There, Where I am Absent, asks visitors to lie under an overhead mirror to create a mechanical wing suspended from the ceiling. Karina Smigla-Bobinski’s ADA is a helium-filled, charcoal-spiked sphere that floats through the room.

Person in black surrounded by suspended reflective spheres in a futuristic space with vertical light lines. — Hyperstudio *Invisible Ballet,* (2026). Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Balloon Museum

Elsewhere, visitors will encounter Hyperstudio’s 10 Agosto, a suspended constellation of swings, lights, and orbs inspired by shooting stars on the Night of San Lorenzo, and Invisible Ballet transforms a space into a living, constantly changing device. Finally, Valerio Berruti, reimagines the carousel with fiberglass birds in The Carousel.