Inflatable sculptures to take over Wollongong's Crown Street Mall during the UCI Road World Championships 2022

The Beautiful and Useful Studio were commissioned to create explosions of colour to be placed in the Crown Street Mall which incorporates hundreds of abstract paintings by the Illawarra community.

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"By day they're going to have this really strong illustrative abstract graphic ... but by night they're going to turn into enormous beacons with internal lighting," one half of the studio Matthew Aberline said.

"It's going to be this fabulous explosion of colour and texture and line and form and mark making - we're calling it 'Spinergy'."

Aberline said around 700 images were mashed together for a "fabulous explosion of colour" and printed on kilometres of specially designed fabric.

Some of the inflatable sculptures will be around four metres high and six metres in circumference, while they have very simple infrastructure needs.

"[It's] one of the reasons why we've been able to show our work all around the world ... we did a three-story high work at the World Trade Centre and the whole thing fitted into two suitcases."

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The fabric used for the sculptures is made out of recycled PET drinking bottles, the same kind of fabric used to back light bus stop advertising and is made under the same process of swimwear - so is suitable to brave the outdoor elements.

The artist came from a fashion design background and began collaborating with architect Maurice Goldberg to form their studio.

Their creations have been seen around the globe such as at the World Trade Centre in New York and at the United Nations in Copenhagen. They especially love bringing regional areas to life and collaborating with the local community to make the colour that will adorn the giants and putting the "public back into public art".

The giants will be on show from September 16 to 24 as part of Wollongong Council's Spin Fest celebrations.

Sofia Gibson has been heavily involved in creating fun, free events around the city for the council, and said they wanted to showcase the best of Wollongong while also appealing to people who had no care for cycling.

First nations art will be projected onto the Wollongong Lighthouse at night, live music and entertainers will populate Globe and Crown Lanes, as well as family-friendly events on specific dates like in Helensburgh and at North Wollongong Beach.

For more details, visit: www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au.

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