Thanks, I Hate It

I’m not going to pretend it’s not about me, or my Project Echo satelloon in the Grand Palais,

a 2008 study for installing project echo, a 100-ft diameter aluminum sphere satelloon in the grand palais, based on a photo of richard serra's work installed at the grand palais. by greg.org

or the Grand Palais then tweeting at me about Anish Kapoor’s giant inflatable Leviathan,

screenshots of monumenta, the grand palais art program, tweeting at me about their then-upcoming installation of anish kapoor's leviathan, an inflatable architectural work. the blurry closeup of anish kapoor looms in the sidebar.

or about Léon Gimpel’s autochromes of air shows in the Grand Palais.

leon gimpel's extraordinary autochrome color photo of an airshow at the grand palais, with striped and decorated balloons suspended above the floor filled with early airplane models.

It is exactly about all of that, and also,

Imagine actually staging a balloon show in the Grand Palais, and deciding what the grandest, vastest art space in the world really needs is five, little Christmas ornament satelloons suspended over a field of temporary sheds, each containing its own Museum of Ice Cream-style balloon instagram spectacle. Does that feel insufficient? Yes? Should we add a light show turning them into disco balls? Should they rise and sink in sync to music? Should they invite Bella Hadid? It’s like, confronted with the central faiblesse of the aesthetic experience, Hyperstudio could only think to keep adding to it.

five satelloons hang over a bunch of scaffolding in erwan franck's youtube video of euphoria at the grand palais
screenshot of Erwan Franck’s youtube video of visiting Euphoria, a balloon-themed spectacle at the Grand Palais in Paris

Look, I am fully aware that a sporadic series of blog posts over 18 years is no way to realize a 100-foot wide aluminum sphere sculpture exhibited in one of the most prominent art venues in the world. I get that. I’m glad the Grand Palais was at least aware.

But this is not just about me and my balloon. Kusama has been showing inflatable immersive environments for years, and she is not here in the Balloon Museum’s Euphoria. LVMH was fine to put dots all over their stores, but apparently did not see fit to underwrite her obliteration of and in the Grand Palais.

a sadly dimensioned fake greenhouse supposedly half filled with beach ball sized light blue balloons is photographed brightly lit from the outside in an otherwise darkened space. a white dad with two kids on the outside gestures toward another kid trapped inside. from the balloon museum's offensive installation of martin creed's iconic work at the grand palais
Martin Creed’s Work no. 3883: Half the air in a given space, 2024, inside a pathetic greenhouse at the Grand Palais, as part of the Balloon Museum‘s instagram show, Euphoria

And then there’s Martin Creed, an Old Master of the contemporary balloon arts. For the Grand Palais he made, of course, Work no. 3883: Half the air in a given space (2024). And the space they gave was inside a f’ing greenhouse. The Balloon Museum was really given the biggest space in Paris to stage an exhibition of the most important balloon-based artwork of the age, and said, “Half the air in a given space? Sure thing, I give you an Amazon box with a balloon in it.”