Boston’s BSA Space is exploring the evolution of inflatables at its newest exhibit, The New Inflatable Moment, on display through September.
The exhibition was inspired by The Inflatable Moment: Pneumatics and Protest in ’68, a 1998 book and exhibition by Marc Dessauce and The Architectural League of New York, which explored the relationship between inflatable technology and utopia.
“With this exhibition, we revisit the moment of the 1960s explored by Dessauce to suggest that utopian thought is re-emerging today in architecture and art as evidenced by projects involving inflatables,” said curators Mary Hale and Katazyrna Balug in the exhibit description.
From the advent of the hot air balloon to the studies of inflatable houses on Mars, the evolution of inflatable structures will be displayed in an interactive timeline created by Boston-based design agency Certain Measures. The timeline provides context for the different projects on display, showing them adjacent to corresponding sociopolitical moments in history.
A series of installations, photos, videos, and models will also populate the exhibit, depicting the ways inflatables have embodied the radical and experimental thinking of architects and artists throughout history. Work by the likes of Buckminster Fuller, Ant Farm, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, and many others, will explore the experimental designs of this bubble-like architecture as well as the advancements in technology that are pushing inflatables into the future, and into space.
“The exhibition reveals some of the most visionary architectural minds working with new methods of display and communication,” said Laura Wernick, chair of the BSA Foundation, on the exhibit’s web page. “Its premiere at BSA space will empower designers to similarly think and work in new ways to create a better future and motivate the general public to believe in it.”
An opening reception for the exhibit will be held on Wednesday, May 17 at 6 p.m. The exhibition is currently open and runs through September 3, 2017. For more information about the exhibit please visit the BSA Space website here.
