Flynn Matthews French artist and photographer Charles Pétillon has revealed a cumulus cloud made of 100,000 white balloons decorated from the inside at London’s Covent Garden. Project named ‘Hearbeat,’ the installation was built as part of the expected London Design Festival and reaches the length of the South Hall ceiling of the Market Building. Pétillion is known for his use of white balloons to fill unusual spaces, a photographic series he refers to as Invasions. This by far his biggest installation to date and his first public art piece.
He says about Heartbeat: The balloon intrusions I build are metaphors. Their aim is to improve the way in which we see the things we live alongside each day without really noticing them. With Heartbeat, I wanted to express the Market Building as the beating heart of this area – combining its past with the present day to let visitors re-examine its purpose at the heart of London’s life.
