A museum that is not a museum has opened in East London – as it’s really a bouncy playground for families.
The Balloon Museum is a collection of artist-designed rooms filled with – well, balloons – and lots of other rubber and bouncy-related things. Thirteen of them in total, which, depending on age and desire to jump in, some are very child-friendly, some more sedate and others plain weird.
It starts with a glass box filled with giant blue balloons, which you squeeze between to a soundtrack punctuated by the occasional loud pop. From there, you wander through psychedelic projections and a slightly surreal room that resembles a rave attended by aliens.
It gets a lot more animated at last, with a mirror-lined room filled with balloons that spin around. It’s very Crystal Maze, with fewer banknotes and considerably more rubber.
A balloon museum obviously has a ball pit – surrounded by a huge video wall, there’s something rather 1980s arcade-game meets nightclub aesthetic going on here.
Calm down with a smoky room with a moving ball ceiling of lights, then run around a glowing room that looks like a power control room from a 1970s science fiction movie.
And of course, there’s a bouncy castle.
Despite the name, this feels much more like an indoor funfair than a museum. Artists designed the rooms, but I suspect most visitors will be more interested in jumping into the installations than contemplating their meaning.
Basically a funfair.
Taken on those terms, and if this is your sort of thing, it’s really good fun.
The Balloon Museum is at Immerse LDN, next to the Excel in East London until the end of August 2027. It’s a few minutes walk from Custom House station for the DLR and Elizabeth line.
Tickets need to be booked in advance here.
A tip when visiting: wear slip-on shoes, as you’ll need to remove them for some rooms.
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