BlowUp Jubilee

The concept: art that embraces air and space 

BlowUp Jubilee is a unique outdoor exhibition centred on air, colour and design. Throughout the Museum Quarter —particularly around Lange Voorhout and the Hofvijver—playful and monumental artworks demonstrate how art can play with scale, lightness and surprising forms. The installations have been designed by national and international artists and range from playful to monumental. 

A look back and a look ahead 

This anniversary edition marks a milestone: all the iconic BlowUp works from the past five years are returning, giving visitors an overview of the evolution of this popular art project. Previous editions of BlowUp Art attracted thousands of visitors and generated significant international media attention. With BlowUp Jubilee, the organisation is building on that success by allowing people to experience the monumental artworks directly in public spaces – with free access for young and old alike.  

Legend:

Central Station Concourse

1. Marleen Sleeuwits – Columns
Marleen Sleeuwits is a successful multidisciplinary artist. In her work, she seeks to understand the characteristics of a place in order to subsequently enhance them by introducing new elements. She cycled around The Hague for days on end to photograph columns. Here at Central Station, she presents a collage of ‘inflatable objects’ based on these local columns.

Plein

2. Steve Messam – Orange
The crown of the Statue of Liberty appears to have settled upon the shoulders of William of Orange. Steve Messam has created a light yet powerfully spatial composition of green spikes that sway in the wind seven metres above the square. When the lights come on in the evening, the atmosphere around this temporary artwork is further enhanced.

Royal Theatre

3. Adrianus Kundert – My First Inflatable
Striped, tubular elements move continuously in the wind. Adrianus Kundert translates his fascination with textiles and woven structures into a spatial installation. The work is constantly changing in form and rhythm. This creates a lively interaction with the surroundings — a visual interplay of movement, pattern and air that temporarily transforms the space.  

4. Yamuna Forzani – A Big Heart
In this façade installation on Schouwburgstraat, Yamuna Forzani explores the tensions between old and new. Her globe, surrounded by symbols, depicts an inclusive utopia in which the LGBTQIA+ community takes centre stage. The work connects architecture and identity and positions public space as a place for equality, optimism and encounter.

Lange Voorhout

5. Steve Messam – Crested
In ‘Crested’, Steve Messam combines monumental scale with extreme lightness. The bright red, pointed forms move constantly in the wind, transforming an everyday location into a dynamic spectacle. Behind the playfulness lies technical precision, through which Messam brings architecture and textiles together in a powerful spatial experience. 

6. Raw Color – Compressed Cylinders
‘Compressed Cylinders’ by Raw Color brings an empty shop window to life with inflated tubular forms pressing against the walls. The installation is constantly changing through inflation and deflation, creating new compositions each time. The work reflects their research into colour as an autonomous and spatial phenomenon within graphic, photographic and product design.

7. Sigrid Calon – Gazebo
With ‘Gazebo’, Sigrid Calon refers to the Torentje and its historical significance. The work emphasises openness and symbolism within the political sphere. Calon’s graphic patterns and intuitive visual language create a multi-layered experience in which distance and detail reinforce one another, and in which visual suggestion takes precedence over unambiguous interpretation.  

8. John Körmeling – The Beating Calendar
John Körmeling explores the relationship between time, movement and form in his work. ‘The Ever-Ticking Calendar’ translates a nineteen-year astronomical cycle into a circular sculpture. His playful yet systematic approach makes complex structures accessible and visible in the public space.

9. Fransje Killaars – All colours are free, 2025
Fransje Killaars explores the impact of colour and textiles on space and perception. Her monumental installation on Lange Voorhout transforms fields of colour into a sensory experience. The work activates the surroundings and emphasises the role of colour as a vehicle for emotion, rhythm and collective energy.

10. Studio Mieke Meijer – Airboretum
‘Airboretum’ presents three inflatable tree structures in which natural growth is translated into modular geometry. The installation ties in with earlier ‘Space Frames’, in which scalability is central. Studio Mieke Meijer combines architectural thinking with product design and creates a work that feels both systematic and organic.

11. Eugenie Boon – Koncha pa dilanti
In her installation, Eugenie Boon combines Caribbean visual culture with contemporary art. Her inflatable card game explores identity, diaspora and community. Through colour and symbolism, she creates a work that is both playful and charged, transforming public space into a place of encounter and cultural expression.

12. Kiki & Joost – The Right Direction
Kiki & Joost’s work bursts forth like a stream of arrows from the façade of Pulchri Studio. The installation embodies direction, energy and optimism. The duo combines craftsmanship and imagination in a monumental gesture that activates the public space and engages in a playful dialogue with the city.

13. Piet Warffemius – Growth
‘Growth’ lies at the heart of Piet Warffemius’s work. Inspired by the Ginkgo biloba, he translates natural forms into monumental sculptures. His work balances between painting and spatial intervention and invites reflection, tranquillity and a renewed relationship between people and their environment.

In de Hofvijver

14. Studio Job – Like a pan in the water
Studio Job transforms everyday objects into monumental, narrative sculptures. In this work, the pan takes centre stage, enlarged and distorted into an iconic image. Job Smeets’s oeuvre moves between craftsmanship and high-tech, and between high and low culture, resulting in a distinctive, eclectic visual language.

15. Lambert Kamps – Submarine
With ‘Submarine’, Lambert Kamps reflects on the use of space and presence. The artwork appears and disappears in the Hofvijver, playing with visibility and absence. This rhythmic movement raises the question of what is necessary in public space, and echoes Shakespeare’s existential dilemma: to be or not to be. 

16. Marcel Wanders – Eggs
Marcel Wanders’ fantasy eggs reflect visitors and function as portraits in the public space. The egg shape, a recurring motif, symbolises vulnerability and potential. Wanders’ narrative design approach translates here into a playful yet meaningful ensemble within the political and historical heart of The Hague. 

Gevangenpoort

17. Steve Messam – Tunnel
Steve Messam is an English environmental artist who has been causing a sensation internationally for years with his inflatable art. His work is sometimes referred to as ‘bubbletecture’. Often larger than a house, Messam’s objects are monumentally imposing in a friendly way. With its unprecedented plastic form ‘Tunnel’ offers a somewhat alienating commentary on the history of the Prison Gate.  

Outdoor courtyard

18. Paul Cournet / CLOUD – Solar Cloud
‘Solar Cloud’ hovers like a soft volume above the Berlage Kiosk and appears to be connected to it via an imaginary umbilical cord. The installation juxtaposes a contemporary gesture with historic architecture. Cournet, trained in Bordeaux and Paris, combines his architectural background with a poetic approach to space. 

19. Larissa Ambachtsheer – ‘Keep me in balance’
'Keep me in balance' is a theme that visual artist Larissa Ambachtsheer has previously explored in her photographic still lifes. The images consist of stacks of spherical objects precariously balanced. Behind the colourful aesthetic lie the burning issues of our time: the search for a conscious, minimalist lifestyle necessary for sustainable survival. 

Passage

20. Theo Botschuijver – Ode to the Light Bulb
With his ‘Ode to the Light Bulb’, Theo Botschuijver pays tribute to a technological icon. Although the light bulb has since been superseded, it remains fundamental to subsequent innovations. Botschuijver, a pioneer in inflatable art since 1967, emphasises the cultural and historical value of this object and its role within visual and musical iconography.

From PopUp BlowUp!

Somewhere different every day

Studio Ossidiana – Softshell

Find out more about BlowUpJubilee!

The exhibition is curated by  Mary Hessing and forms part of  BinnenhofBuiten, a wide-ranging cultural programme that brings a vibrant cultural programme to the city whilst the Binnenhof is being renovated. The programme aims to keep the city vibrant and to foster connections between the public, the Museum Quarter and the arts. BlowUp Jubilee is a shining highlight of this ambition.  BinnenhofBuiten is an initiative of The Hague & Partners in collaboration with the Municipality of The Hague.