People all over the world are saying, I’m sure, “Hey, Greg, doesn’t Mathieu Lehanneur’s giant silver inflatable Olympic cauldron lit by a simulated flame of LED & mist look an awful lot like Mark Leckey’s autobiographical installation at PS1 where he suspended your satelloon sculpture like a futuristic moon near sodium streetlit models of an electrical tower and underpass formative to memories of his youth that time?”
And to them I would say yes, yes it does.
And while it also looks a lot like it in the daylight, I would point out that it looks even more like the balloonscapes photography pioneer Léon Gimpel used to capture around Paris, including at the airshows at the Grand Palais.
As Lehanneur affirms, Paris is the city of love, the city of lights, and the city of balloons, all rolled up into one.
Mathieu Lehanneur’s “flying cauldron” lit for Paris 2024 Olympics [dezeen, h/t briansholis]
Previously, related: Les Satelloons du Grand Palais
Les Ballons de Léon Gimpel