Pyramid Curbs Brings Vibrant Inflatable Structure to Urban Setting

Grand Rapids just got a new landmark, and it looks like someone inflated a rainbow and let it spill across the plaza.

Called Pyramid Curbs, this oversized inflatable maze is the latest brainchild of French artist-architect Cyril Lancelin, who seems determined to prove that serious art can also be a whole lot of fun.

The installation is made up of looping, tubular forms that tangle upward into a pyramid-like shape. From far away, it reads like a colorful mirage, a kind of futuristic jungle gym.

Step closer, and you realize it’s meant to be entered, wandered, and maybe even slightly puzzled over.

Inside, light filters through inflated walls, bending and bouncing color in ways that feel part rainbow, part lava lamp.

What’s refreshing is how unpretentious it is. Most monumental art says “stand back and admire me.” Pyramid Curbs says “come on in.” It takes over an ordinary stretch of city and flips it into a temporary playground, the kind of spot where strangers become co-explorers and kids drag their parents along for another lap.

Because it’s inflatable, the piece is never quite the same. Morning light makes it soft and pastel; evening turns it bold and saturated. The weather leaves its mark too. Even the crowds wandering through become part of the shifting artwork.

Part of the Return to the River festival in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the temporary installation brought a sense of whimsy and vibrancy to the setting. See more of Lancelin’s varied, oversized, and dynamic work on his website.

Via Designboom. Images © Copyright Cyril Lancelin.