Giant, inflatable sculptures, covered in splashes of colour have filled the centre of Crown St Mall as the city prepares to host its cycling festival Spin Fest.
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Spin Energy, a collection of unique inflatable artworks, will illuminate the city centre nightly.
Wollongong City Council teamed up with The Beautiful and Useful Studio to create an art installation that reflected the kinetic energy of cycling and the community's connection to the land and seascape of the Illawarra.
The studio is responsible for art installations across Sydney, Melbourne, New York, Copenhagen, London and now Wollongong.
The council's City Culture and Activation Manager Sofia Gibson said the artworks were an appeal to the whole community - not just cycling enthusiasts.
"Council really wanted to do some projects where the community who might not love cycling can get involved," she said.
Sydney-based artists Maurice Goldberg and Matthew Aberline led workshops in Wollongong to allow the community to get involved with the project.
Mr Aberline said community collaboration was key in creating the art installation.
"We wanted to include lots of local people who just wanted to get creative so we ran a whole series of workshops over a weekend where we drew completely abstract mark-making," he said.
"Part of what we wanted to create was just this enormous beacon of heads for where the party is for everyone to come down. Like a focal point."
More than 700 artworks were submitted for inclusion and of that, 250 images were used in the final product.
Jaskiran Kaur was one of the many involved in the creative process and couldn't be happier with the outcome.
"It was a relaxing session, we did most of the artwork with blindfolds on and just let our creative juices flow," she said.
The artwork has been made using only green energy and about 90 per cent of the inflatable artworks displayed in Crown St have been created from already recycled material.
Standing at four metres tall, the inflatable installation encapsulates three themes - the Wollongong escarpment, the sea and the energy of cyclists and crowds.
Mr Aberline said the installation looked especially beautiful at night.
"The inflatables are internally illuminated so they become like lanterns," he said.
The art installation is on display in Crown St Mall until September 24 between 8am to 9pm.
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