Artist Floats 100,000 Balloons Inside London’s Covent Garden Market

The 19th-century market building in London’s Covent Garden was transformed. French artist Charles Pétillon used twenty-five workers over five days to fill the building with 100,000 giant white balloons in an installation called “heartbeat.” The project is part of Covent Garden’s ongoing cultural program that strives to transform the district into an ever-changing art gallery, and will run until September 27th.

“The balloon invasions I create are metaphors,” Pétillon told. “Their goal is to change the way in which we see the things we live alongside each day without really noticing them. with ‘heartbeat’ I want to represent the market building as the beating heart of this area – connecting its past with the present day to allow visitors to re-examine its role at the heart of London’s life.”