If you’re going to be in London anytime before September 27, 2015, make your way to Covent Garden to see French artist Charles Pétillon‘s Heartbeat installation, an illuminated display of 100,000 giant white balloons that form cumulus clouds. The public art piece is a part of the London Design Festival. Via Colossal, Pétillon explains his work:
The balloon invasions I create are metaphors. Their goal is to change the way in which we see the things we live alongside each day without really noticing them. With Heartbeat I wanted to represent the Market Building as the beating heart of this area – connecting its past with the present day to allow visitors to re-examine its role at the heart of London’s life.
Each balloon has its own dimensions and yet is part of a giant but fragile composition that creates a floating cloud above the energy of the market below. This fragility is represented by contrasting materials and also the whiteness of the balloons that move and pulse appearing as alive and vibrant as the area itself.
Related work: Pétillon’s Invasions.
Watch these next: A cloud sculpture made from 6,000 light bulbs, blooming silk light sculptures at the Rijksmuseum, and an Acrocanthosaurus dinosaur sculpture made of balloons.
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