Ballarat to blow up with three-day inflatable art festival

Inside the festival turning air into art this winter!

This July, Civic Hall in Ballarat will transform into a space where air and imagination converge. From 10 to 12 July, Hidden 2026, a three-day micro festival of inflatable art presented by Creative Ballarat, invites visitors to step beyond the usual gallery gaze and immerse themselves in an environment alive with colour, form, and movement.

HIDDEN 2026

When: Friday 10 July, 5pm – 9pm, Saturday 11 July, 10am – 9pm, Sunday 12 July, 10am – 4pm

Where: Civic Hall, 300-304 Mair Street Ballarat Central, Victoria

Keep up to date with all things arts, exhibitions and stage here.

 

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Six local artists have been invited to reimagine the historic hall through large-scale inflatable works that encourage exploration. Audiences are called not just to look, but to wander, touch, listen, and follow curiosity wherever it leads. Guided by mentor Dr David Cross and produced by Mikael Abromowitch and Justin Weyers, Hidden is an experience in flux: soft structures rise and fall, light filters through translucent surfaces, and moments of surprise wait just around each corner. Civic Hall becomes a place of discovery, where each turn reveals something playful, unexpected, or quietly beautiful.

At the centre of Hidden are six distinct artistic voices. Jay Kulbardi (they/he), a Ballarat-based contemporary artist and proud Bibbulmun and Chilean transgender creative, works across traditional and digital media to explore cultural storytelling, identity, and connection. Kulbardi’s practice draws subtle parallels between human relationships, the land, and the branching patterns of the brain, inviting audiences to reflect on connection in both the personal and the environmental sense.

Annelìse Belladonna, a First Nations surrealist and founder of Atropa Studios, brings a strikingly imaginative energy to the festival. Her work, spanning sculpture, painting, and digital media, blends gothic aesthetics with playful curiosity, conjuring worlds inhabited by strange, otherworldly characters and forms that feel both mischievous and mysterious.

Ben Pennell, a Ballarat-based maker and designer, approaches art through the lens of process and craft. Fascinated by how things are made, he moves seamlessly between digital fabrication and traditional techniques, transforming ideas into tactile, thought-provoking forms that celebrate experimentation and material intelligence.

Tom Bell, a motion designer and animator, brings cinematic sensibilities to Hidden. Working across 2D, 3D, and stop-motion, his films and projection works have been shown internationally and at major Australian festivals, adding movement, rhythm, and visual storytelling to the immersive landscape of the hall.

Kathy Holowko creates sculptural installations and public artworks that investigate our relationship with urban and ecological systems. Her practice considers the world as a shared, cyclical habitat, shaped by the interactions of humans and non-human life alike, encouraging audiences to consider the often-overlooked connections that sustain our environments.

Finally, Meaghan Shelton, a Ballarat-based visual artist, writer, and educator, works across textiles, sculpture, and installation to reimagine domestic spaces as sites of memory and resistance. Her work intertwines feminist knowledge with ecological consciousness, inviting reflection on both intimate and communal histories.

Together, these artists transform air into structure and imagination into something you can move through. Hidden 2026 is not merely an exhibition but a collective environment that encourages slowing down, looking closer, and rediscovering a sense of wonder.

Following its sold-out one-day debut in 2025, Hidden returns as a 90-minute-long inflatable experience suitable for all ages. Timed entry sessions run every 15 minutes to maintain intimacy and ensure visitors can fully engage with each installation. Tickets are available via the Her Majesty’s Theatre Ballarat website: $25 for adults, $15 for young people aged 12–18, and free for children under 12.

The festival will blow into Civic Hall next month perfectly timed for school holiday fun.

Tickets are available now and can be purchased here.