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    A Glowing Inflatable Canyon by ENESS Squeezes Inside Melbourne’s Prahran Square

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    All images courtesy of ENESS, shared with permission

    A Glowing Inflatable Canyon by ENESS Squeezes Inside Melbourne’s Prahran Square

    August 15, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    Although it appears that thousands of tons of boulders have been dropped into Prahran Square in Melbourne, the enormous rocks are actually as light as air. Art and technology studio ENESS (previously) has installed its inflatable “Iwagumi Air Scape” in the park, creating an immersive canyon for visitors to wander through.

    While the 16 massive stones have a grainy, granite-like texture during the day, at night, they glow in otherworldly pinks and yellows, creating a surreal landscape that illuminates the urban environment. Audio of flora and fauna accompanies the work, so that when viewers squeeze through what would be a treacherous pass between real boulders, the soft inflatables and mountain sounds wrap them in a natural embrace.

    The outdoor installation is on view through August 17, when it will travel to additional locations. Keep up with its stops on ENESS’s Instagram.

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    • 188 Shares52 Views

      in Art

      An Inflatable Building Recreates the Iconic Mecca Flats at the Heart of Chicago’s Black Renaissance

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      All images courtesy of Floating Museum, shared with permission

      An Inflatable Building Recreates the Iconic Mecca Flats at the Heart of Chicago’s Black Renaissance

      August 12, 2025

      ArtDesignHistory

      Grace Ebert

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      As the World’s Fair loomed on Chicago’s horizon, architects Willoughby J. Edbrooke and Franklin Pierce Burnham built a 98-unit hotel to house visitors. After the exposition was finished, the Romanesque Revival building with a large central courtyard was converted into apartments and became known as Mecca Flats.

      Chicago adhered to strict segregation codes in the 19th century, and Mecca Flats, located in the Bronzeville neighborhood at 3360 S. State Street, wasn’t immune. The complex originally only allowed white residents, before allowing Black residents in 1911. Quickly, the building became a site for creatives well-known in the Black Renaissance. Gwendolyn Brooks famously titled a book after the tenement, and luminaries Muddy Waters and Katherine Dunham called Mecca Flats home.

      View of the indoor atrium at the Mecca Flats, East 34th and South State Street, Chicago, Illinois.

      Although a historical beacon of Black creativity, the Illinois Institute of Technology razed the building in 1952. It was replaced by the Mies van der Rohe-designed S.R. Crown Hall.

      While Mecca Flats are long gone, its memory lives on throughout Chicago, and thanks to the collective known as Floating Museum, a new artwork revives the cultural hub. “for Mecca” is a large-scale inflatable structure recreating the once-thriving complex in grayscale polyester. Scaled down, this iteration stretches 41 feet long, with a U-shaped passageway for viewers to walk through.

      Floating Museum is co-directed by avery r. young, Andrew Schachman, Faheem Majeed, and Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, who share that the project offers a “tangible artifact” of Chicago’s lost history. They say:

      “for Mecca” represents our collective interest in Bronzeville’s complex history. We can no longer view nostalgic images of Mies van der Rohe—enjoying a cigar in the emptiness of S.R. Crown Hall—without also imagining Mecca Flats, collapsed under his feet, and recalling the slow strategic displacement of the African American community signified by the presence of its absence.

      The project also includes several nods to former South Side institutions, including the jazz dancehall Savoy Ballroom and the Regal Theatre, a popular night club and performance venue.

      Debuting this past weekend at the original site, the project will travel around the city’s parks through the summer of 2026. “for Mecca” is the latest project in the collective’s Floating Monuments series, which seeks to uncover critical cultural and historical legacies within Chicago through public installations.

      Find more from Floating Museum on its website.

      The Stroll, Regal Theater, and the Savoy Ballroom, Chicago, 1941. Photo by Russell Lee. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives.

      Savoy Ballroom, 47th Street and South Parkway, Chicago, 1929. Curt Teich Postcard Archives Digital Collection, Newberry Library.

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    • 163 Shares129 Views

      in Art

      Tender, Cute, and Absurd, Rong Bao’s Inflatable Sculptures Plug Into the ‘Emotional Wobble’

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      “Alien Babe No.2.” All images courtesy of Rong Bao, shared with permission

      Tender, Cute, and Absurd, Rong Bao’s Inflatable Sculptures Plug Into the ‘Emotional Wobble’

      July 17, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      From PVC, silicone-coated fabrics, nylon mesh, electronics, and other found or manipulated materials, Rong Bao creates oddly personable inflatable sculptures. “My fascination with inflatable structures began when I realized how absurd, tender, and unstable they could be—all at once,” the artist tells Colossal. “Unlike rigid materials, inflatables breathe, wobble, collapse, and revive. They seem alive, with a sense of humor and vulnerability that deeply resonates with me.”

      Rong’s ongoing series of alien-like creatures tread the boundaries between humor and discomfort, abstraction and representation, and what she describes as “cuteness and existential instability.” The artist takes on a role akin to a playful mad scientist—just imagine Frankenstein’s unpredictable monster as a bouncy, neon pink confection.

      “Alien Babe No.1”

      Rong spends several weeks to months getting each composition just right by sketching, prototyping elements, testing inflation behavior and structural integrity, then fabricating the final piece. “It often involves a lot of trial and error—and a lot of laughter and despair in between,” she says.

      Rong was recently featured in an episode of the BBC’s children’s television program, Go Get Arty, and is currently working on a commission for Harper’s Bazaar China that incorporates a traditional, lightweight silk fabric with deep cultural roots in China.

      “I see my practice as a playground of soft contradictions—between seriousness and silliness, desire and failure, monumentality and deflation,” Rong says. “Many of my pieces are meant to be touched, entered, or even played with. I love it when viewers smile and laugh, and then suddenly feel a little unsettled. That moment of emotional wobble—that’s the space I’m after.”

      Rong’s work was recently on view in Selfridges’ display windows, part of a series titled New Age in which the department store showcased 15 emerging artists. And she also recently completed a large-scale commission titled “Carnivorous Bloom” for Pinacoteca Agnelli in Torino, Italy. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      Selfridges installation view of “Crown of Perception”

      Detail of “Alien Babe No.1”

      “Enigma”

      “Sanctuary of the Unclaimed”

      “Pink Roundabout”

      “Triple Bills”

      Detail of “Alien Babe No.2”

      “Unnamed Directory”

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    • 125 Shares129 Views

      in Art

      A Monumental Immersive Installation by ENESS Prompts Joy and Togetherness

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      “Forest Dancer.” All images courtesy of ENESS, shared with permission

      A Monumental Immersive Installation by ENESS Prompts Joy and Togetherness

      February 24, 2025

      ArtDesign

      Kate Mothes

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      A nine-meter-tall passageway made of eight individual arches enticed visitors into ENESS’s latest installation (previously). Last month at Quoz Arts Fest 2025 in Dubai, Forest Dancer comprised a monumental entry and an immersive exhibition of illuminated inflatable forms inside a contemporary building.

      With mushroom-like proportions, pixellated patterns, and a slew of changing hues, ENESS’s work encompasses a central character surrounded by psychedelic trees, mountains, insects, and boulder-like bean bags.

      “As artists, we work in many contexts—inside galleries and museums, in (the) public realm and even creating small art pieces for the home,” said ENESS founder Nimrod Weis. “This approach of ‘art is everywhere’ means that we responded to the inspiring architecture by creating an artwork that is at once a conversation with the built form and an installation in its own right.”

      This year’s festival was curated around the theme of an Arabic proverb meaning “a hut holds a thousand friends,” inspiring creative responses that center bringing people of all ages together and promoting interactivity.

      A statement says, “The entire exhibition, spanning over 600 square meters, is an ode to the power and importance of creativity in the face of online obsession, geopolitical upheaval, and the rise of dark forces taking us far from the soulfulness of art, human connection, and gentle contemplation,” says a statement.

      Find more on ENESS’s website.

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    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Fantastical Figures Illuminate Urban Buildings in Amanda Lobos’ Murals and Installations

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      “Ventura” (2024), Festa da Luz, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. All images courtesy of Amanda Lobos, shared with permission

      Fantastical Figures Illuminate Urban Buildings in Amanda Lobos’ Murals and Installations

      February 20, 2025

      ArtDesignIllustration

      Kate Mothes

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      Vibrant contrasts, eye-opening patterns, and mischievous creatures are just a few of the characteristics of Brazilian artist Amanda Lobos’ beguiling scenes. Based in Vila Velha, about an eight-hour drive up the coast from Rio de Janeiro, Lobos works extensively across a range of mediums, from graphic and product design to murals and public installations.

      A large-scale inflatable work titled “Ventura” was installed last year on the top of a building in the city of Belo Horizonte. Lobos calls upon the philosophy of Indigenous Brazilian environmentalist and philosopher Ailton Krenak, who posits that humankind should live in harmony with nature rather than trying to control it.

      Mural for Festival Nalata (2023), 5 x 8 meters. Av. Faria Lima nº822, São Paulo, Brazil

      Lobos’ all-seeing “Ventura,” which translates to “fortune,” perches on a corner of a tall building and oversees its domain, double-faced with two eyes on each side and one of its legs curled up casually on the ledge.

      This work “is about the agony and dilemma of returning a star to the sky,” Lobos says in a statement, describing “Ventura” as “condemned to the duality of the fantastic and the real.”

      Much of the artist’s work is intentionally left open to interpretation. “I believe that what I want to communicate to viewers is already embedded in my work visually, allowing them to interpret it however they wish—that’s the beauty of it!” Lobos tells Colossal. “I don’t like to be too literal or overly serious with my concepts; I enjoy the creative process and the freedom it gives me.”

      In vivid murals, Lobos applies a similar juxtaposition of mystery and play, as coy characters dance within colorful panels or long walls illuminate the joys of learning. An expansive mural at a school in the Jardim Limoeiro neighborhood of Serra celebrates science, art, curiosity, and play.

      MC.Arte mural for the Penélope Municipal Early Childhood Education Center in Jardim Limoeiro, Serra, Espírito Santo, Brazil (2023). Photo by Ana Luzes

      “My favorite thing about painting murals—besides seeing them come to life on a large scale from an initial sketch on paper or a 30-centimeter canvas—is the process itself,” Lobos tells Colossal. She adds:

      Executing the piece and watching it unfold is truly special. The feeling of applying paint with no “Ctrl+Z” is humbling, and working on such a large surface teaches you to embrace mistakes and adapt in new ways. Every wall is a fresh learning experience.

      Lobos is soon heading to Mexico to paint her first mural outside of Brazil looking forward to collaborating with two other artists on a pair of murals for the Movimento Cidade festival in August.

      We’ve shared a handful of public art projects here, but you can head over to Behance or Instagram to see a wide range of the designer’s vibrant product collaborations and commissions.

      Three illustrated tarot cards created for the publishing company TAG Livros, referencing iconic authors

      “Ventura”

      “Tropical Transformation” mural for brand activation of Devassa beer at the Casa7 event venue, Vitória, Espirito Santo, Brazil

      Six illustrated tarot cards created for the publishing company TAG Livros, referencing iconic authors

      Interior mural for CASACOR Espírito Santo

      MC.Arte mural in progress for the Penélope Municipal Early Childhood Education Center

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