BlowUp Art The Hague brightens up Hofvijver with impressive blow-up art

The third edition of BlowUp Art The Hague kicks off on Thursday 9 May, this time floating the artworks on the Hofvijver. (Photo: The Hague & Partners / Ronald Smits)

The Hague - This year, BlowUp Art The Hague floats on the Hofvijver; the heart of the city since the thirteenth century. The temporary festival of blow-up artworks in Museumkwartier Den Haag blossoms like a lush garden on a pontoon, on which fabulous creations by leading Dutch Design designers steal the show.

The colourful blow-up artworks were specially designed for BlowUp Art The Hague. For this edition, Mary Hessing, the curator of BlowUp Art The Hague, selected four renowned Dutch design luminaries: Studio Job, Marcel Wanders, Studio Mieke Meijer and Sigrid Calon.

The public can visit BlowUp Art The Hague free of charge from Thursday 9 May until Sunday 2 June. The floating sculpture garden can be accessed between 11am and 8pm via a pontoon bridge from the corner Lange and Korte Vijverberg.

Nature-inclusive

The green elements of this special floating garden with water features was realised by students from Yuverta's ‘livable city and climate’ department. They did so under the guidance of ecological landscaper Deborah Treep and artist Frank Bruggeman.

Dutch Design has been exploring unconventional solutions, sustainability and the narrative potential of products, objects and furniture since the early 1990s.

BlowUp Art
BlowUp Art The Hague 2024 is curated and produced by Mary Hessing for BinnenhofBuiten, which organises activities during the renovation of the Binnenhof, commissioned by The Hague & Partners and the municipality of The Hague.

The BlowUp Art artworks take shape by blowing air into a shell of coated textile. The flexible and light material offers all the freedom to adapt an artwork to the shapes of a statue or building, or in this edition, to float on the Hofvijver.

BlowUpcino
On the occasion of BlowUp Art The Hague, from Thursday 9 May it will be possible to order the ‘BlowUpcino’, a cappuccino with a BlowUp twist, at various catering establishments in the centre of The Hague. The BlowUpcino is on sale at Luden, Dudok, Vienna Konditorei, the Koninklijke Schouwburg, Pathé Buitenhof and StationsHuiskamer at Den Haag Centraal station (while stocks last).

Audio explanations are available for each artwork and there are videos of the designers explaining the creation of their BlowUp.