Covent Garden, a district in central London, is hosting a unique exhibition of hundreds of thousands of balloons.
‘Heartbeat’ is the title for the work of French photographer Charles Petillon, his first outside his own country, Euronews reported.
The photographer is known for his work with balloons to create eerie images in everyday settings. His aim for this exhibition is to encourage visitors to view Covent Garden in a different way.
“The goal is to share with people this installation, to allow people to make their own photo, and have their own point of view. I have mine of course. But I will allow people to share this point of view,” he said.
A team of 25 took a week to inflate each of the 100,000 individually sized balloons weighing a total of 320 kilos.
‘Heartbeat’ stretches 54 meters in length and 12 meters in width and incorporates gentle pulsating white light that illuminates the structure from within and which aims to symbolise a beating heart.
The work is designed to reflect the history, energy and dynamism of the district. Interest in it has been high and two visitors gave their opinions.
“I walked around the corner and sort of saw it and I thought it looks like there are clouds over hanging, a bit like London in the last few days,” said one Australian while a Spanish tourist said: “This is original and very different when you enter Covent Garden and see these balloons.”
The exhibition is part of an ongoing cultural program that has invited artists such as Alex Chinneck, Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst and Banksy to create pieces for the area.
It is on until the end of the month.
