It began with a pair of tights and two rings. It will become theworld`s largest public art project: five huge sculptures dotted arounda region attempting to rejuvenate itself.

The Tees Valley Giants,unveiled today, are the work of Turner prize-winning artist AnishKapoor and one of the world`s leading structural engineers, CecilBalmond. The pieces will be placed, over the next ten years, inMiddlesbrough, Stockton, Redcar, Hartlepool and Darlington.

The project, more than four years in theplanning, was announced today with artist`s impressions of the firstwork, Temenos. The sculpture will fill what is currently a rather bleaklandscape between Middlesbrough`s Transporter bridge and the Riversidestadium and, appropriately, at 110m will be as long as a footballpitch. The 50m-high steel structure consists of a pole, a circular ringand an oval ring, all held together by a kind of cat`s cradle of steelwire.

Balmond knows how he wants people to react when they see it. "It will be a kind of awe, I think. It will be a new landscape."

Thatsaid, the design will remind some of Marsyas, the Kapoor-Balmond workthat filled Tate Modern`s Turbine Hall six years ago and is now -"sadly," they say - rolled up and stored in a box in Norfolk.

Theartist was brought on board in 2004 and says he was bowled over by howgrand the thinking was. He told the Guardian: "This is without doubtthe biggest art project in the world, in terms of ambition and scale -everything. It`s massive."

Kapoor and Balmond said they worked together because of a shared interest in interrogating form.

"Inmany ways scale is a deep, mysterious and wonderful thing, and yet atsome levels it gets a bad name. To reinvigorate and re-initiate scaleis one of the things we`re about," said Kapoor.

"There are allthe arguments about public art - couldn`t we have spent money on ahospital, say - and all the arguments are correct. But what happensafter a while is that these things have the possibility of infiltratingpeople`s consciousness. You can`t say it`s going to happen, but you canhope it does."

Temenos will cost around £2.7m, while the whole project will involve a spend of some £15m.

Fundingis coming from both public and private sources as well as a welcomemeeting of football and conceptual art: Middlesbrough FC will stump upabout £350,000. Subject to planning permission, work is due to start inthe autumn and be completed by next summer.

The whole project wasthe idea of Joe Docherty, chief executive of Tees Valley Regeneration.He said it was a declaration that the area had changed, that it wasprepared to take risks. "This isn`t something we need in the Teesvalley. It`s something we deserve. This is a calling card that the areais on the turn."

The Tees Valley Giants were announced on thesame day that another monumental piece of public art, Antony Gormley`sAngel of the North, celebrated its tenth birthday; it is now one of themost recognised artworks in the UK.

Meanwhile in Ebbsfleet,Kent, a competition is being held for a so-called "Angel of the South",with the favourite being a gigantic white horse designed by MarkWallinger. The winner will be announced in the autumn.