The Disney x Gillie and Marc interactive pop-up comes to Westfield Bondi Junction from 29 October to 1 November, blending art, friendship and wildlife.
In a shopping centre, art is usually something encountered between errands. A sculpture catches the eye on the way to lunch; a painting briefly interrupts the familiar rhythm of shopfronts and escalators. Most people keep moving. But occasionally, an artwork asks for something different: a closer look, a photograph, or the willingness to step inside its story.
From Thursday 29 October to Sunday 1 November 2026, Westfield Bondi Junction will host an interactive pop-up that invites visitors to do just that. The Disney x Gillie and Marc collaboration brings together some of the world's most recognisable animated characters and the imaginative sculptural world of Australian artistic duo Gillie and Marc, with large-scale installations designed for people to approach, climb aboard and photograph.
Set up in front of Zara, the four-day experience will combine interactive sculptures with original paintings, sculptures and limited-edition artworks. Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Daisy Duck appear alongside Dogman and Rabbitwoman, the unusual companions who have become central to Gillie and Marc's work.
The collaboration is playful in its surface details, but it also carries a more considered theme. Friendship, shared adventure and affection for the natural world run through the collection, connecting the familiarity of Disney characters with the artists' longstanding interest in wildlife conservation.
Rather than placing art at a distance, the Disney x Gillie and Marc pop-up is designed around participation. Visitors will be able to climb onto monumental bicycle sculptures, pose alongside the characters and become part of the scene. In a busy retail setting, that invitation to pause may be the most interesting part of the experience.
Disney x Gillie and Marc: Where Two Artistic Worlds Meet
The appeal of this collaboration begins with the characters themselves. Disney's Mickey and Minnie Mouse have occupied a distinctive place in popular culture for generations, their relationship often expressed through shared journeys, playful encounters and enduring companionship. Donald and Daisy Duck bring a different energy, with personalities that have helped make them familiar across ages and cultures.
Gillie and Marc approach their own characters through a similarly accessible visual language, though with a more unusual cast. Dogman and Rabbitwoman are part dog, part rabbit and part human, a pair built around the idea that difference need not prevent connection. In their artworks, the two travel together, explore new places and meet the world with curiosity.
The meeting of these characters is less a clash of styles than a conversation about what makes a story endure. Both artistic worlds place relationships at their centre. The characters may be instantly recognisable for different reasons, but they share an emphasis on loyalty, companionship and the pleasure of experiencing something together.
For Gillie and Marc, the collaboration extends a creative practice that has made art approachable in public spaces around the world. Their sculptures frequently invite people to sit beside them, touch them or become part of a composition. The intention is not to make art less meaningful, but to remove the sense that it must be observed from a respectful distance.
That approach suits a collection built around familiar figures. A child may recognise Mickey Mouse immediately, while an adult might be drawn to the more unusual presence of Dogman and Rabbitwoman. The experience allows those different points of recognition to coexist, with the sculptures offering a shared place to gather.
The Bicycle As A Symbol Of Shared Adventure
At the centre of the collection is one of Gillie and Marc's recurring motifs: the bicycle. In their work, it is more than a means of transport. It represents a journey undertaken together, a simple object that suggests movement, companionship and the possibility of discovering something beyond the familiar.
The Bondi Junction pop-up brings that idea into three dimensions. One large interactive bicycle features Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse alongside an endangered African elephant. A second places Dogman and Rabbitwoman with an endangered rhino. Visitors will be able to climb aboard the sculptures and pose as though they are joining the characters on their travels.
The scenes are deliberately open-ended. A bicycle can suggest a day out, a journey through an unfamiliar landscape or the everyday pleasure of moving through the world with someone else. Adding beloved fictional characters gives the images an immediate sense of play, while the presence of threatened wildlife introduces a more serious consideration.
For visitors, the opportunity to become part of the artwork changes the relationship between viewer and sculpture. Instead of looking at a finished scene, they can occupy it. A photograph becomes a record of participation rather than simply a picture of an object.
This is a familiar part of contemporary public art, where interaction can help an artwork reach people who might not ordinarily visit a gallery. At Westfield Bondi Junction, the setting brings that possibility into the flow of everyday life. Families, shoppers and curious passers-by may encounter the installation without having planned an art visit at all.
The bicycle also offers a useful link between the Disney characters and Gillie and Marc's own creative universe. It gives both groups a shared purpose, making the collection feel like a journey rather than a collection of separate character portraits.
Wildlife Conservation Beneath The Playfulness
The endangered elephant and rhino are not incidental additions to the sculptures. Wildlife conservation has been a sustained focus of Gillie and Marc's work, informed by their travels and experiences observing animals in the natural world.
Their public installations have often used the scale and visibility of sculpture to draw attention to species under threat. Rather than relying only on statistics or distant images of animals, the artists seek to create an emotional connection. The premise is simple: people are more likely to care about what feels familiar, immediate and worthy of protection.
That idea informs the Disney x Gillie and Marc collaboration. The presence of recognisable characters creates an accessible point of entry, while the endangered animals ask visitors to look beyond the playful scene. The resulting images hold two ideas at once: the pleasure of shared adventure and the vulnerability of the wildlife with which people share the planet.
The collection also includes works depicting Mickey Mouse holding a panda and, in another sculpture, a koala. These quieter encounters place a familiar character beside an animal associated with the natural world, creating an image based on gentleness rather than action.
Such scenes can offer a useful way into a subject that often feels overwhelming. Wildlife conservation encompasses complex environmental pressures and difficult questions about habitat, human activity and species survival. An artwork cannot resolve those challenges, but it can create a moment of attention. It can encourage a visitor to pause, recognise an animal and consider why its future matters.
At the Bondi Junction pop-up, that message will sit alongside the more immediate pleasures of photography and character recognition. The balance is important. The work does not ask visitors to abandon playfulness in favour of a lesson; instead, it uses that playfulness to make room for a different kind of connection.
An Interactive Art Pop-Up In The Middle Of Bondi Junction
Westfield Bondi Junction is a distinctly urban setting for an exhibition of this kind. The centre is a place of movement, convenience and routine, with people passing through on their way to work, meeting friends or completing the practical business of the week.
The installation will sit in front of Zara, making it accessible to visitors already moving through the centre. Its large-scale sculptures are designed to be noticed, but their interactive nature encourages people to spend more than a passing moment with them.
This is one of the defining ideas behind Gillie and Marc's public work: art need not be confined to a gallery or treated as something reserved for a specialist audience. It can exist in the middle of a city, where people encounter it in the course of an ordinary day.
The setting also changes the pace of the visit. There is no need to organise an entire afternoon around the pop-up. Someone may stop while shopping, return with family or take a photograph before continuing elsewhere. Others may spend longer looking at the original paintings and limited-edition pieces displayed alongside the sculptures.
That mixture of casual discovery and closer attention is part of the appeal. The interactive works provide an obvious point of entry, while the wider collection offers more to explore once visitors have become familiar with the characters and themes.
The four-day schedule gives the experience a defined window, running from Thursday 29 October through Sunday 1 November 2026. Those planning a visit should allow extra time if they want to explore the artworks and take photographs, particularly during the weekend promotional periods.
Weekend Giveaways And The Wider Collection
The pop-up will include two scheduled giveaways for visitors. On Saturday 31 October, between noon and 2pm, the first 100 visitors during the promotional period will receive a free Gillie and Marc x Disney poster. On Sunday 1 November, also from noon to 2pm, the first 100 visitors will receive a free colouring book.
Both offers are limited to the first 100 visitors during their respective periods and remain available while stocks last. Those hoping to receive a giveaway should plan to arrive early rather than assume that items will remain available throughout the afternoon.
Alongside the interactive installations, visitors will be able to view original paintings, sculptures and limited-edition artworks featuring characters from the collection. The range allows the collaboration to extend beyond the large-scale photo opportunities, showing how the shared themes of friendship, adventure and wildlife translate into different forms.
A limited-time buy-one-get-one-free offer on selected artworks will also be available through the pop-up and online. The online collection can be found at the Gillie and Marc website, with the code DISNEYLOVE specified for the offer. Terms and conditions apply, and visitors should check the retailer's details for the selected works and offer period.
The artworks are part of a broader collaboration rather than a collection created solely for the shopping-centre event. The pop-up offers a physical introduction to that world, allowing visitors to encounter the sculptures at full scale before exploring the smaller works.
A Place To Step Into The Story
The most memorable part of an interactive artwork is not always the sculpture itself. It may be the moment someone climbs aboard and discovers how the composition changes from the inside, or the way a family arranges itself around a character for a photograph. It may be the unexpected question prompted by the presence of an endangered animal beside a familiar face.
The Disney x Gillie and Marc pop-up brings those possibilities into a setting where art and everyday life meet. It draws on the recognition of Disney characters, the distinctive imagination of Dogman and Rabbitwoman, and the artists' continuing interest in wildlife. Its bicycles make the idea of shared adventure tangible, giving visitors a way to participate rather than simply observe.
There is a quiet usefulness to that approach. Not every encounter with art needs to begin with interpretation, and not every message needs to arrive as a lecture. Sometimes curiosity comes first, followed by a closer look. A playful image can create a pause in the day, and that pause can leave room for a more thoughtful response.
For four days at Bondi Junction, the collection will offer a small departure from the usual rhythms of shopping. Visitors can step into a scene, take a photograph and move on, or linger over the paintings and the wildlife story beneath the colour and character.
The bicycle suggests that the journey is better when shared. At this pop-up, that idea extends beyond the characters themselves to the people who gather around them, and perhaps to the animals whose presence gives the adventure a deeper purpose.
Disney x Gillie and Marc Pop-Up: Event Details
Dates: Thursday 29 October to Sunday 1 November 2026
Location: In front of Zara, Westfield Bondi Junction, Bondi Junction, Sydney, NSW
Experience: Large-scale interactive bicycle sculptures, photo opportunities, original paintings, sculptures and limited-edition artworks
Saturday Giveaway: 31 October, 12pm to 2pm. The first 100 visitors during the promotional period receive a free Gillie and Marc x Disney poster, while stocks last.
Sunday Giveaway: 1 November, 12pm to 2pm. The first 100 visitors during the promotional period receive a free Gillie and Marc x Disney colouring book, while stocks last.
Special Offer: Buy one, get one free on selected artworks for a limited time, in-store and online. Use code DISNEYLOVE online. Terms and conditions apply.
Official Website: https://gillieandmarc.com/collections/disney-drop