Sculpture by the Sea, Australia’s largest outdoor public display of sculpture, will spread its wings to Europe next year for its first international exhibition.
The annual event, which opened for three weeks last weekend, displays the works of local and overseas artists along the coastal walks and headlands of Sydney’s most famous inner city beaches.
Free to the public and with an expected audience of half a million people, the sculptures include single standing metal pieces, stone and wood carvings, installations on rocks and in crevices, seawater floaters, delicate wind vanes and even handmade sand balls.
The inaugural European exhibition will take place in Aarhus, Denmark, in June 2009.
Rebecca Zipser, spokesperson for Sculpture by the Sea, says the idea came from Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary after they had attended the exhibition some years ago.
“They were so impressed that the prince talked to his private art tutor about getting something going in Denmark,” she told The Epoch Times.
“They have finally found a location and a number of the Australian team are going over to consult with the Danish and help out.”
Ms Zipser said the exhibition was a huge undertaking as it involved not only curating and siting the works, but also engineering and technical skills.
Founder of Sculpture by the Sea David Handley said the Denmark exhibition was an exciting development and would be a huge promotion for Australian artists.
“It’s [Aarhus] a beautiful spot and there’ll be about 25 Australian sculptors in the show, so it’ll be a real boon for Australian sculpture,” he told the ABC.
Sculpture by the Sea started in 1997 as a one day exhibition. Twelve annual exhibitions later, it has exhibited over 1180 sculptures by over 800 artists from 32 countries.
This year, 107 sculptures by 109 sculptors (two sculptures are co-operative pieces) straddle the 2km of spectacular Sydney coastline between Bondi and Bronte beaches.
Participants include 91 sculptors from Australia and 18 from overseas, including 3 from Denmark.
Eight of the international participants are from Japan – the Japanese sculptors showing a particular liking for the event. Keizo Ushio, who currently has a solo show at the Robert Steel gallery in New York, created one piece for the Sydney exhibition worth $250,000. Keizo was celebrating his 10th year as an exhibitor in the Sydney event and his subsequent membership in the Sculpture by the Sea Decade Club. Members in the club now number eight and are growing.
Japanese artist Kozo Nishino also won the $10,000 Transfield Holdings Kinetic Art Prize for his delicate but intricate installation of moving metal pieces titled Harmony with the Breeze.
Sculpture by the Sea is free to all and continues until November 2.
