A Study On Australian Beach Sculpture Exhibition

Sculpture by the Sea in Australia is the biggest annual sculpture exhibition in the world. It’s free to the public. As of 2016, it’s been running for 20 years. In Sydney, the exhibition is located along 2 kilometers’coastline from Bondi to Coogee beach, showing over 100 sculptures from local and international artists. Over 3 weeks’time, the exhibition receives around half a million visitors. Many public art in Australia were purchased from Sculpture by the Sea by private/corporate patrons, and given to the local councils. Lots of artists made their fame through Sculpture by the Sea.Sculpture by the Sea went beyond gallery walls and started dialogues between sculptures to the nature. Over the years, it not only built academic portfolio for artists, but also contributed greatly to public art for the city. From culture’s perspective, Sculpture by the Sea created unique attraction for the city, and brought benefit to other industries such as tourism, which in turn contributed to over all economic growth of the city. It’s an unique phenomenon in the sense that it turned an art exhibition into an art festival, and then further into a festival for the whole city.Sculpture by the Sea would not have achieved its success without cooperation among various organizations. Australia’s heavily emphasized culture policy set strategic direction for the event. The professional curatorial panel ensured the academic quality of the exhibition. Corporate and private patrons and sponsors provide substantial financial support to ensure smooth operation. Like all other exhibitions, Sculpture by the Sea encountered many problems and challenges, such as how to get state and local government realize the value and potential of the exhibition, and hence, allocate more fund; how to balance between getting enough funding and avoid being over commercialized; how to utilize the funds for event operation and lower the cost for artists. How Sculpture by the Sea handled the challenge is valuable reference for us.Sculpture by the Sea presents a great example for bringing art out and close to the public, while still keep the art spirit avant-garde. The thesis aims to thoroughly analyze Sculpture by the Sea from multiple aspects, to collect and sort through utmost information about the exhibition, so as to become useful reference for research on China’s public art and city culture enhancement.