Valerio Berruti is among the artists selected for DAYDREAM – Air Becomes Art, an exhibition project marking the opening of the Balloon Museum’s first permanent location in the United States. Conceived by Lux Entertainment and hosted in the Tin Building—a historic structure in the heart of Manhattan’s Seaport district—the museum establishes itself as one of the most ambitious international spaces dedicated to inflatable and immersive art, having already welcomed over eight million visitors across Europe, North America, and Asia.

The featured artwork is The Carousel: a monumental installation composed of 18 large fiberglass birds, suspended in a poetic balance between presence and weightlessness. The piece fits into Berruti’s ongoing exploration of fundamental existential themes—childhood, time, freedom—and represents an evolution of La giostra di Nina (Nina’s Carousel), recently exhibited at Palazzo Reale in Milan. In New York, the installation engages with an entirely new scale and context, entering into dialogue with the city’s monumentality and the works of the other featured artists.

“DAYDREAM speaks to a culture that has made escape and emotional intensity part of daily life. Through the ephemeral monumentality of air, the leading voices create spaces that detach us from the ordinary and hold us, if only for a moment, in a state of wonder.”

-Valentino Catricalà, curator of DAYDREAM – Air Becomes Art

Exhibition Context

DAYDREAM is a group exhibition bringing together some of the most significant names in international contemporary art. Participants include Marina Abramović, featuring her first immersive installation dedicated to light and air, and Turner Prize winner Martin Creed. The exhibition unfolds across a sequence of environments where light, sound, color, and volume become sculptural materials, inviting visitors into forms of interaction that redefine the relationship between body, movement, and space.

The choice of the Tin Building as the venue is deliberate: located along the East River in lower Manhattan, the building is one of the downtown area’s most iconic landmarks and provides a high-profile setting for an exhibition project of this scale.

Valerio Berruti’s Practice

Born in Alba in 1977, Valerio Berruti has spent over twenty years developing a painterly and sculptural practice centered on the human figure—particularly childhood as the threshold between innocence and the complexity of the world. Recognized for their expressive draftsmanship and lyrical tension, his works have been exhibited in major international institutions and public spaces. His participation in DAYDREAM confirms the artist’s presence within a premier global exhibition circuit.

UPCOMING EVENT

Figli degli uomini · Narni Città Teatro Narni, Umbria

September 11-13, 2026

In autumn 2026, Berruti will participate in Narni Città Teatro, a multidisciplinary festival featuring a contemporary art section curated by Antonella Lizzi.

The sculptures Figli degli uomini (Children of Men)-two-meter-high aluminum casts-and a selection of video animations will engage in a dialogue with the historic spaces of the Umbrian town.