World superstars BTS have announced their plans to launch a hot air balloon that will travel from London to Seoul as part of their “Connect” project with fans.
The hot air balloon collab, with the popular K-Pop band, was created by Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno and is made up entirely of recycled plastic bags. according to the BBC in a piece published Tuesday. (RELATED: Britney Spears Shows Off Some Wild Dance Moves At Home)
Thanks for the love @mrdiscopop! So excited to collab with global superstars BTS! But slight correction: the work on the left is Museo Aero Solar, an important part of our Aerocene history-Project K-Hop will be a different aerosolar sculpture flying LDN>Korea-more details soon! https://t.co/nnry883XQ1
— tomas saraceno (@tomassaraceno) January 14, 2020
The self-propelled balloon set to launch in nine days, is expected to travel from the United Kingdom, through Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kazahkstan, and finally land in South Korea. The plan is to have it be propelled by nothing but solar and wind power. (RELATED: Britney Spears’ Best All-Time Performance Moments [SLIDESHOW])
Saraceno said he was inspired to attempt to make the journey asking himself, “‘Can we send [the balloon] from here to BTS in Korea free from fossil fuels?'”
“From the Wright Brothers, who invented the airplane, it was always about the combustion engine,” he added. “We have to wait for the wind to take us there. It’s unlocking a certain way of being attuned to the rhythm of the planet.”
According to the report:
Connect, BTS involves free installations in five cities on four continents, with high-profile artists like Sir Antony Gormley, Bill Fontana and Yiyun Kang all creating pieces.
The band said it was “a great honour to participate… with such renowned artists and curators”.
“What was meaningful for us is how these artwork are completed through the experience of the people who see them,” band-member Jeon Jung-kook shared.
“We also feel our performances are made complete with our fans,” he added. “So we found a common ground between what we do with the music and with the art.”
Speaking by video-link from Seoul, the international superstar band shared that the project’s focus is to “give back some of the amazing love that we receive”.
“We have always been inspired by the ability of music to communicate across borders, which is not very different to what art does,” they shared.