A mirrored hot air balloon is flying across Massachusetts this summer

If you find yourself in Massachusetts this summer, be sure to look up. American artist Doug Aitken sent a gleaming, mirrored hot air balloon across the sky as part of The Trustees’ Art & The Landscape public art series.

The land conservation and preservation group commissioned Aitken to create a piece of art that reflected the state’s natural landscape. Aitken’s “New Horizon” does so literally. The large balloon is made from a reflective Mylar that mirrors the sky and landscape it passes over, not so unlike the artist’s other mirrored projects (and this shiny orb at last year’s Burning Man).

Doug Aitken Workshop and the Trustees

Doug Aitken Workshop and the Trustees

Doug Aitken Workshop and the Trustees

The balloon is traveling from Martha’s Vineyard to the Berkshires, making pit stops along the way for a series of “happenings,” where “ideas, conversation, music, and art are shared.” At night during the live events, Aitken’s balloon becomes a light sculpture that moves with the music and landscape.

The balloon took flight July 12 at the Long Point Beach Reservation and is traveling across sandy beaches and wavering fields through July 28.