On my way home yesterday I decided to go through la plaça Sant Jaume challenging the tourists crowds that often take on Barcelona’s Gothic quarter. Fortunately, the square was not crowded, however something caught my attention immediately: a series of red balloons randomly scattered around.
Everybody seemed to wonder what they represented and who had placed them there, (even the police, who after checking one of them decided they were no harm to anybody).
The image was beautiful and soon I discovered that there was a red balloon path going up Sant Honorat street and followed it.
I didn’t have to wait long to find out about the responsible of the installation as at the crossroad with Sant Domènech del Call I noticed two girls dropping some balloons. They told me they were from BCNLandscape a platform uniting several architects and environmentalists working on different types of projects all related to landscape.
I kept following the path that ended up at Plaça Sant Felip Neri. There I couldn’t help but smile at the views of school kids on their lunchbreak holding a red balloon and running around the square. There was some kind of magic in it, something so simple as a balloon can still catch the attention of kids and make them happy. A little victory over our technology dominated world.
In the end I didn’t find out what was exactly the purpose of this action, but like many pieces of art, it’s better not to ask why and just enjoy the beauty in it.
What do you think?