Background

When the City of Ballarat focused its HIDDEN public art program on large inflatable installations, it faced a familiar challenge: how to help local artists use a specialised medium without technical issues holding back their ideas.

To bridge this gap, the City of Ballarat partnered with Giant Inflatables. Over four months, Giant Inflatables’ Industrial Designer and Subject Matter Expert, Mikael Abramowitch, worked with Lead Mentor Prof. David Cross to guide six regional artists, none of whom had prior inflatable art experience. They transformed ambitious concepts into structurally sound, site-responsive public installations.

The Challenge: Demystifying a Complex Medium

Inflatable art offers extraordinary visual scale and public engagement, but its fabrication demands technical precision. Converting a two-dimensional concept into an inflated 3D structure requires navigating air-pressure dynamics, weather tolerances, seam integrity, and specialised printing techniques.

For emerging artists, these engineering requirements can feel overwhelming. The initiative needed an SME who could demystify material science while serving as an approachable, problem-solving mentor rather than a rigid regulator.

The Solution: Where Fine Art Meets Industrial Precision

As technical lead for Giant Inflatables, Mikael Abramowitch shared his expertise across seven structured masterclasses. Rather than imposing design limitations, Mikael provided a framework that translated creative ideas into viable manufacturing blueprints.

Mikael guided the cohort through key development stages:

• Material Science & Properties: Educating artists on textile behaviour under air pressure, translucency, weight, and weather resistance for Ballarat’s winter conditions.
• 2D-to-3D Engineering Translation: Teaching artists how flat vector artwork transforms into patterned panels, internal baffling systems, and complex physical forms.
• Print Fidelity & Surface Finish: Advising on specialised printing technologies and ink behaviour on curved textile surfaces to ensure vibrant visual impact.
• Site Mechanics & Execution: Balancing creative ambitions with structural anchoring, blower needs, public safety standards, and practical budget limits.

By combining Prof. David Cross’s artistic guidance with Mikael’s hands-on industrial mentoring, the program gave artists full confidence to push creative boundaries while maintaining complete structural and financial viability.

The Outcome & Industry Impact

The collaboration culminated in the HIDDEN Micro-Festival (3–5 July 2026), presenting six original inflatable installations that transformed Ballarat’s public spaces.

• Capability Building: Successfully upskilled six non-inflatable artists into confident creators of public inflatable art.
• Seamless Translation: Achieved a 100% feasibility rate, bringing every artwork concept to full realisation on time and within allocated production parameters.
• Engineering Reliability: Delivered durable, high-impact installations that met all civic safety standards without diluting original artistic intent.

Through this partnership, Giant Inflatables demonstrated that industrial expertise doesn’t limit artistic expression; it unlocks it.