inflatable

Posts tagged
with inflatable

Art

KAWS Floats a Massive Inflatable Sculpture in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour

COMPANION, a 121-foot-long inflatable sculpture by street artist KAWS, launched today at Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. The reclined, monochrome figure is the largest to date for the American artist, with recent previous iterations of the project installed at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, and on Seokchon Lake in Seoul, South Korea. The figure was purposefully designed to be in a peaceful repose, its crossed-out eyes gazing at the sky above.

“I was thinking of all the tension in the world, and I wanted to create work that would make people think about relaxing,” KAWS recently told TIME. “And there’s nothing more relaxing than lying on your back in water and looking up at the sky.”

To get the monumental work far enough into the water, tugboats pulled the sculpture from Wanchai to the waterfront off Tamar Park until it reached the Central Harbourfront. The event was celebrated with a water spray performance by the Hong Kong Fireboat 1 Elite. The work was launched by Hong Kong-based creative studio AllRightsReserved for the annual Hong Kong Arts Month, and will continue to occupy the harbor until March 31, 2019. (via Artsy)

Art

Layers of Crocheted Fabric Drape Across a Large-Scale Inflatable Installation Inside of Paris’s Le Bon Marché

Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos (previously) recently installed a large site-specific inflatable installation covered with crocheted fabric and embellishments inside of Paris’ oldest department store, Le Bon Marché. The suspended two-part work, titled “Simone,” is the latest in the artist’s Valkyries series, and takes inspiration from the female figures in Norse mythology.

Named for French human rights activists Simone du Beauvoir and Simone Weil, the large piece features two orb-like structures that loom over visitors along the store’s perimeter, and is connected by tentacles that weave around the building’s iconic escalators. The inflatable is dressed in fabric with handmade crocheted details that dangle from its limbs to give it the appearance of an alien chandelier. Color-changing LEDs are also embedded throughout the work and pulse rhythmically, which gives the strange being the entrancing power of a bioluminescent deep sea organism.

Vasconcelos tells Colossal that like the winged-horse riders, the works in her Valkyries series “are both warrior and protective creatures, in the way they attack and contaminate yet adapt and engage with the spaces they inhabit.” To see more of the artist’s work, follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

Art Design

Bubbletecture: A New Book Explores Decades of Soft Architectural Forms and Inflatable Designs

Bubbletecture, from Phaidon, captures the incredible range of inflatable architecture, fashion, art, and design that has been created over the last several decades. From chair-shaped balloon creations by Seung Jin Yang to a blow-up aubergine concert hall by Arata Isozaki (previously) and Anish Kapoor (previously), the included designs range from aesthetic interpretations of puffy inflatables to pieces that highlight their ease and functionality. The book, which was written by New York City-based architect Sharon Francis, presents more than 200 examples of shape-shifting designs dating back to the 1960s. You can discover more soft architecture forms and air-filled frocks by ordering the book on Bookshop. (via Web Urbanist)

Art

A Gargantuan Purple Sea Monster Lurks Inside a Two-Story Warehouse at Philadelphia’s Navy Yard

Twenty inflatable tentacles extend from the roof and several windows of a two-story warehouse in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard, making it appear as if sea monsters have attacked the former naval storehouse in an installation titled Sea Monsters HERE. The massive work is the largest inflatable sculpture ever created by UK-based artists Filthy Luker (previously) and Pedro Estrellas. It was produced in partnership with Group X, an anonymous collective of local artists and curators, and the Navy Yard which extends along the Delaware River.

The purple tentacles range from 32 to 40 feet, and curl upwards to reveal green suction cups lining their inner surface. Luker and Estrellas have been collaborating on inflatable sculptures since 1996, you can see more of their recent works on Instagram and their website, Designs in Air. Sea Monsters HERE will be on view both day and night through November 16, 2018. You can view a video tour of the installation in a video produced by Foxx below.

    

  

Art Dance

Wild Balloon Creatures Overtake the Streets of New York in Jason Hackenwerth’s Animal Soul

In Animal Soul, a fleeting exhibition at Brookfield Place in New York City, artist Jason Hackenwerth (previously) brought to life a menagerie of inflatable creatures. Born from his wild imagination, the interactive inflatable artworks included wearable “Megamite” costumes sported by professional dancers, and towering fabric creatures that soared above the crowds. You can see more from Hackenwerth on Instagram.

The Diety. #Woooohooo @bfpl_ny #gitit @klkitchen

A post shared by Jason Hackenwerth (@hackenwerth) on Jul 9, 2018 at 7:44am PDT

Art Colossal

Take a Tour of ‘Inflatable’ at San Francisco’s Exploratorium

The Exploratorium summer show, curated by Colossal, has filled the museum and exploration space to the roof—literally!—with eye-catching, mind-boggling, and joy-inducing interactive inflatable art. Take a peek at the exhibit, which includes artwork by Shih Chieh Huang, Jason Hackenwerth, Amanda Parer, Jimmy Kuehnle, and Pneuhaus. ‘Inflatable’ is on view through September 3, 2018 in San Francisco. Find out more on the Exploratorium website.