Iwagumi Air Scape at Prahran Square

This August, Prahran Square transforms into a surreal, open-air sculpture garden with the Australian premiere of Iwagumi Air Scape – a towering, dreamlike installation by acclaimed art and tech studio Eness.

Standing up to 13 metres tall, this larger-than-life inflatable artwork reimagines the ancient Japanese art of iwagumi – a philosophy of “aquascaping” harmonious rock garden compositions, typically underwater – on a monumental urban scale. The result is a gravity-defying illusion: immense air-filled forms that look like they weigh thousands of tonnes, appearing to have landed smack-bang in the middle of Prahran.

By day, visitors of all ages are invited to wander among the gentle giants. But come nightfall, the sculpture lights up with shifting colours and reacts to movement with an ambient, nature-inspired soundscape driven by cleverly embedded motion sensors. Serene, strange and quietly spectacular, Iwagumi Air Scape is part interactive playground, part meditative zone and part optical illusion – plus, it’s entirely free to visit.

Led by artist and founder Nimrod Weis, ENESS has won several awards for its interactive artworks over the last two decades. This is only the second time Iwagumi Air Scape has ever been seen and its first time in Australia, with a limited two-week run exclusive to the Chapel Street Precinct.

Iwagumi Air Scape opens to the public at 5pm on Friday August 1, and remains open to visit until 10pm daily until Sunday August 17. Find out more here.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with the Chapel Street Precinct.