paola pivi leans 20-meter technicolor ladder against the grand palais in paris

Paola Pivi installs monumental ladder outside the Grand Palais

Untitled (project for Echigo-Tsumari) by Paola Pivi is a monumental installation leaning against the Grand Palais, featuring an oversized, vividly colored ladder that stretches more than 20 meters. The inflatable artwork is on view until September 7th, 2026, as part of Euphoria: Art is in the Air, an exhibition by the Balloon Museum that marks the long-anticipated reopening of the Grand Palais in Paris and reanimates the iconic venue with color and a spirit of joyful disorientation. First shown in 2015 within the historic courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi in Florence (find designboom’s previous coverage here), the ladder reemerges here, positioned just outside the renovated historic building. Pivi’s intervention, playful and jarring, interrupts the classical symmetry of the space. Installed just outside the main volume of the building, the structure appears as an object entirely out of place – monumental, technicolor, and stripped of practical purpose.

images courtesy of MASSIMODECARLO gallery unless stated otherwise

the colorful inflatable artwork subverts logic

Paola Pivi reimagines the familiar form of the ladder into something absurdly unfunctional, a surreal prop that invites a kind of metaphorical ascent. The Italian artist opens a moment of visual curiosity with a sudden disorientation that activates the senses and allows thought to drift beyond the strictures of logic. Untitled (project for Echigo-Tsumari) prompts viewers not to climb physically, but to elevate emotionally and imaginatively, led upward by color, form, and the destabilizing sense that reality has briefly lost its footing.

Known for transforming objects, animals, and spatial arrangements through paradox and scale shifts, Paola Pivi’s work challenges conventional meaning by subtly subverting context. Her interventions often draw from the everyday, ladders, animals, airplanes, then twist them into new dimensions where their usual roles no longer apply. This act of displacement gives her work a dreamlike, often humorous intensity. In the case of Untitled (project for Echigo-Tsumari), the artist abandons functionality in favor of wonder, projecting visitors into a temporary, emotionally resonant world governed less by gravity and more by possibility.

Untitled (project for Echigo-Tsumari) by Paola Pivi leans against the Grand Palais

Balloon Museum brings ‘Euphoria: Art is in the Air’ in paris

Following the success of Pop Air in 2022, the Balloon Museum returns to Paris with a new exhibition and a renewed sense of scale. Curated by Valentino Catricalà in collaboration with Antonella Di Lullo, Euphoria: Art is in the Air brings together 20 inflatable and immersive artworks by a range of international artists, including Philippe Parreno, Camille Walala, Ryan Gander, Martin Creed, alongside Paola Pivi. While continuing the Balloon Museum’s playful and participatory approach, the exhibition introduces an entirely different body of work from its previous edition, transforming the freshly renovated Grand Palais into a space for visual experimentation and public engagement. Two additional works by globally recognized artists will be revealed later in the show’s run, contributing to the evolving nature of this large-scale installation program.

the inflatable artwork is part of the Euphoria: Art is in the Air exhibition