BigShinyThing

Normally, any combination of the words ‘colourful balloons’ and ‘public art’ would have BigShinyThing running for the first bus out of Hackney. But the good people at Haque have converted us: their project for the opening of London Fashion Week — Burble, which will lift-off Sunday September 16, 2007, 20:00 in Holland Park — is monumental in scale, intimate in engagement, and looks fun for all. Commissioned by Moët & Chandon, Burble is comprised of around a thousand helium-filled balloons, LED lighting and more electronic microcontrollers than you could shake a geek-stick at.

Members of the public come together to compose, assemble and control an immense rippling, glowing, bustling ‘Burble’ that sways in the evening sky, in response to the crowd interacting below. This massive structure, the form of which the public has themselves designed, exists at such a large scale that it is able to compete visually in an urban context with the skyscrapers that surround it.

Burble was premiered last year at the Singapore Biennale (see picture above). Haque have more photos from that event on their site. See you there!