Inspired by the childlike sense of wonder often associated with balloons, Lithuanian architect-turned-artist Tadao Cern decided to recreate that wonder, albeit in the opposite direction. His amazing installation, Black Balloons, takes a cue from the saying “simplicity is genius”, and builds on the basic idea of connecting two balloons to each other.
Cern got the results he was looking for by filling balloons with two different gasses. The top balloon is filled with helium, making it float; the one at the bottom is filled with a heavier gas, sulfur hexafluoride, which makes it hover slightly over the ground. Connecting them with a metallic string, Cern arranges them in rigid formations, sometimes lining up almost 400 balloons in a orderly rows and grids, or suspending them inside glass tanks like scientific displays.
His installations are, of course, ephemeral – like all balloons they later lose their buoyancy, but the fascination of the project lasts a long time in the viewer’s mind. We’re keeping an eye on his website, Facebook and Instagram to find out where we can catch his work in the future. You should too.
