Created using 500,000 balloons and covering 4,000 sqm, Lufiland includes replicas of the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Great Sphinx and Budapest’s own Chain Bridge. There’s also a “fun zone” where children can create with balloons. Verhoef is proud to say that Lufiland is environmentally friendly.

“We work with 95% air and only 5% material,” he tells me. “The 500,000 balloons we’ve used will disappear into roughly 10 to 15 large garbage bags.”

A European School for Performing Arts graduate, Verhoef has worked as a balloon artist, designer, teacher and pioneering producer of large-scale balloon projects and shows since 1991.

He also directed the first balloon fashion shows in Europe, Asia and the United States. These feature outfits made from individual large balloons or lots of smaller ones. I’m not sure what the point is, but the results look great.
 

Among Verhoef’s many honors are three Lifetime Achievement awards for his dedication to the international balloon industry. Balloon art is not just colorful hot air to him.

He’s organized the making of balloon rhinos to raise awareness about poaching in Africa and created a 26 meter “Dove of Freedom” in Israel near the Syrian border during the conflict with IS.

I caught up with the upbeat, pumped-up Verhoef, who was in Los Angeles teaching a balloon art masterclass, to learn more about Lufiland. Incidentally, if you hadn’t guessed, “lufi” is Hungarian for balloon.

Working as a performing artist, Verhoef discovered that “Balloons are a very strong communication tool and an international language that everyone understands. They’re the symbol of happiness and celebrating the moment. I realized that when I used them, I was provoking powerful emotions,” he tells me.

With Lufiland, Verhoef aims to create a dream world, but one where the most essential element is adventure.

No Fixed Route

“In most exhibitions, people follow a fixed route that allows them to see exhibits. Then they leave. We wanted to give them an experience they’ll never forget, and that’s not so easy. It made us think: ‘What are the things in life that automatically get stored on our mental hard drive?’”

It dawned on Verhoef that “The most important thing for a lot of people is creating memories by traveling. If you have a great trip to a country, you hold on to your memories. And, because our identity is made up of what we’ve experienced in the world, all the memories we accumulate make us us. With Lufiland, we want to give something to people they’d remember.”

When visitors enter Lufiland, they’re given a passport. Rather than walking down a prescribed route, they’re free to explore the balloon world and create their own adventure.

Radiating certainty, Verhoef says “It’s such a unique experience I can guarantee you’ll remember it for the rest of your life.” Laughing, he adds, “Everything I tell you now maybe sounds a little over the top. But when you see Lufiland, you’ll understand.”

To create the Lufiland experience, Verhoef and his team first visualized the balloon world in 3D and then divided it into sections to be completed by artists with particular skills.

As Verhoef explains, “Some artists specialize in making buildings, others animals or birds. We find the best artists worldwide to make sure each element of the exhibition is as good as it can be.”

Although Verhoef and his team have been doing balloon exhibitions all over the world, this is the first time an experience of this size has been brought to Europe.

“Budapest is a wonderful cultural center,” Verhoef explains. “It’s really central in Europe, which means visitors to the city can connect with what we want to share.”
 

Lufiland came about when Roy Milo of Hadran, the Hungarian promoter of exhibitions, concerts and events, contacted Verhoef.

Apart from the Van Gogh Immersive Experience currently running in Budapest, Hadran has been responsible for Dali and Klimt experiences as well as the Brickpark Lego Exhibition (known as KockaPark in Hungarian) and Dinoworld, both at the Campona shopping center.

Talented and Experienced

“Hadran are very talented and experienced exhibition owners,” Verhoef told me. “Roy and I clicked and agreed that, together, we could make Lufiland a reality.”

Up until the emergence of Verhoef and others like him, most of us would have pictured balloons twisted into not especially convincing Daschund shapes if we thought of balloon art. According to the Dutch artist, the reality is very different.

“I’m not saying that everything created with balloons is automatically art because that’s simply not true, but we are pioneering a new art form,” he argues.

“I work with sculptors, fine artists and conceptual artists on different projects. Which can be particularly challenging. One of the things we wanted to show with Lufiland, where we’re working with some of the most talented balloon artists in the world from Japan, China and the States, is that balloons are a pop – pun intended – art form.”

Verhoef’s use of the word “pop” allowed me to slip in the question I’d been wanting to ask all along: how does Verhoef take down a balloon exhibition?

“We pop the balloons, yes,” he says, “with a pin or knife. It’s a big popping party.”

That must be therapeutic, I say. I’m thinking of “looners,” people who get off on popping balloons. Verhoef sighs. “For some people, maybe, but remember that Lufiland is made out of 500,000 balloons. After the first 100, it just becomes work.”

I didn’t ask the other question that had popped – sorry – into my mind: Are visitors to Lufiland searched for pins on their way in?

BOK Sportcsarnok
1146 Budapest, Dózsa György út 1.  (B Hall)

Opening hours:

Monday-Friday:
Cash desk: 10:00-18:00
Exhibition: 10:00-19:00

Saturday-Sunday
Cash desk: 09:00-18:00
Exhibition: 09:00-19:00

More: 
lufilandbudapest.hu/en

*********************************

You're very welcome to comment, discuss and enjoy more stories via our Facebook page: 
Facebook.com/XpatLoopNews + via XpatLoop’s groups: Budapest Expats / Expats Hungary

You can subscribe to our newsletter here: XpatLoop.com/Newsletters

Do you want your business to reach tens of thousands of potential high-value expat customers? Then just contact us here!