Tired of immersive art? You’ll hate London’s Balloon Museum

The adverts are popping up all over London: “Emotion air: art you can feel” coming soon to London’s Balloon Museum. Never heard of it? Well, the Balloon Museum is opening in Old Billingsgate on the 27th December and promises, “a unique exhibition that explores the profound relationship between art and emotions through the captivating medium of inflatable art.” The ‘exhibition’ will include the work of 20 artists (including Momoyo Torimitsu, Cyril Lancelin and Rub Kandy) designed to induce feelings such as ‘fear’, ‘frustration’, ‘discomfort’ as well as ‘joy’ and ‘all emotions at once’ – reading their press release, I feel… excited.

The Balloon Museum (I’m going to run out of scare quotes writing this) is simply the latest in a long and growing list of ‘immersive experiences’ promising new ways to ‘engage’ with ‘art’. A few of these, 180 Studios on Strand for example, can claim artistic credentials. But the less said about Frameless, Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience and Lightroom London, the better. And then, right at the bottom, you have an exhibition of funhouse mirrors and illusions at the Twist Museum on Oxford Street, and just down the road, the NFT-adjacent Moco Museum, due to open in 2024 with works by KAWS, JR, Yayoi Kusama and Banksy. It makes you yearn for another American Candy Store.

Why bother criticising these places? You’re wasting your time. Because when it comes down to it, these ‘experiences’ and ‘museums’ are simply places to take yourself and your partner and any snotty, screaming kids you happen to have in tow for a dissatisfying half hour and a few snaps for the parents’ WhatsApp group. Anyway, plenty of people find meaning and joy in these experiences, you’re just a hater. And you wouldn’t be entirely wrong: I am a hater, and a shocking number of people do enjoy these exhibitions. The Balloon Museum claims a total of 3 million people have visited its numerous exhibitions around the world: in Rome, Paris, Milan, Naples and New York. What’s more, those 3 million people were happy to pay a lot of money to visit. The prices for the New York Balloon Museum start at $45 per adult and $35 per child, and London isn’t far behind, at £32 per adult and £15 per child.

Nobody needs another immersive experience, but a lot of people desire them. Their sheer number and their overwhelming popularity suggest that there’s a widespread dissatisfaction with what we’ve already got. In London, that’s hundreds of exhibitions across the city, almost all of which are cheaper, and many of which are free.

What makes the Balloon Museum different? In their adverts, they really sell themselves on the fact visitors can touch the art, as if that’s the only way you can form an emotional connection. Two points. First: if you feel the urge to pay someone so that you can rub yourself against some latex then that’s a conversation you should be having with your partner or/and a professional (brochures available at all good phone boxes). Second: what emotions can you feel at the Balloon Museum that you can’t on a trip to the National Gallery, Tate Britain, the Barbican Centre, or any of the smaller galleries in the city? If you can’t find an emotional connection at any of those places, then perhaps you need to spend more, not less, time there.

If you’re looking for something better to do, check our staff picks of the best London art exhibitions.