The exhibition at Excel’s Immerse LDN in Royal Docks boasts silly, engaging works by the likes of Martin Creed, Camille Walala and Hyperstudio
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There are doubtless those mean-spirited individuals who will visit Balloon Museum’s latest exhibition of installations and pour scorn on its lack of artistic merit.
But that’s rather to miss the point of Euphoria: Art Is In The Air.
A visit to the attraction, hosted at Excel’s Immerse LDN in Royal Docks quickly reveals its real purpose.
Those contributing works to its spaces are there to entertain, to help visitors lose a few inhibitions and to have a bit of fun.
Is it a money-making exercise born of the immersive experience boom? Sure, but who cares?
The point is that, for the most part, Euphoria lives up to its name.
The installations are mostly interactive, silly and therefore capable of transporting the most cynical of minds.
exploring Balloon Museum’s latest exhibition
The first one we encounter is Turner Prize-winner Martin Creed’s Half The Air In A Given Space – a series of blue balloons in a room.
We enter, delighted, spinning around confronted by the spheres and then… pop. Someone has burst one.
It’s a shock, a frisson of naughtiness and a reminder of the unexpected. Was it supposed to happen? Pop. Another one…
Moving on, we play with coloured liquids and light trapped between translucent sheets and projected onto the walls around, build arches out of inflatable pentagonal cages and bop about with cute, googly-eyed aliens.
It’s nonsense, charming and good for all ages. Heading upstairs things get more kinetic. Hyperstudio, a design practice present a vortex-driven column of white balloons amid pulsing LED lighting.
All governed by air-blowers, the effect of Invisible Ballet is remarkable and we’re able to stand bamboozled in the updraft surrounded by swirling white inflatables.
Another highlight is the same maker’s epic ball pool filled with black spheres and there for everyone to jump about it.
In contrast to these high-energy pursuits there’s a room of gently swaying red ellipses – Spy’s Ovoids, which are pretty but a little dull in comparison.
Similarly underwhelming is an installation by Camille Walala called Follow Me, I Think I Know The Way, which looks like a chic soft play but is all the wrong dimensions for climbing about on.
In the end, we’re just left staring at it until it’s time to move on.
Some of the slower pieces work well however. Alex Schweder’s Our Floating is a bed with inflatable sections that rise and fall apparently at random and Hyperstudio’s 10 Agosto allows viewers to gently swing while watching a misty presentation based on shooting stars.
AA Murakami’s New Spring is the show-stopper though, dropping smoke filled bubbles that can be popped or caught before disappearing forever.
It’s a reminder of the transience of all things.
Fortunately, if that’s a little deep, there’s a bouncy castle filled with inflatable letters to mess about with on the way out.
All-in-all, an experience well worth the entry fee for adults and kids.
4/5 ****
key details: Euphoria Art Is In The Air
Euphoria – Art Is In The Air is currently open at Immerse LDN from 11am on weekdays and from 10am on Sundays.
There will be adults-only sessions on Wednesdays and Fridays from 5pm and 7pm respectively.
Adult tickets start at £27.50 for adults and £21.50 for children.
Dates are currently bookable up until August 22, 2027.
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