Book your flights and stay or plan your day trips because Sculpture by the Sea Bondi has announced the dates for its 25th exhibition. The world’s largest free public sculpture exhibit will run for a little over two weeks, from Friday, October 20 to Monday, November 6, 2023.
As in previous years, it’ll see the 2km-long coastal walk from Bondi to Tamarama Beach transformed with pieces from local and international artists.
This year, however, the exhibition’s long-standing main sponsor Aqualand has increased the value of its first prize from $70,000 to $100,000. The Aqualand Sculpture Award was already the most generous sculpture award in Australia. The recipient of this year’s award will be announced on October 20, 2023, with the artwork gifted by Aqualand for permanent public placement in Sydney.
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“We’re honoured to support such an iconic public event in Australia’s arts and culture calendar and congratulate David Handley [Sculpture by the Sea founder and CEO] and his team on reaching the 25th year of the world’s largest sculpture exhibition,” said Managing Director of Aqualand Group, Jin Lin.
Artwork submissions for this year’s exhibition are now open, with applications due Wednesday, April 26 by 9am AEST. Throughout its two-plus decades, the exhibition has shown 2,488 sculptures by more than 1,000 artists from 50 counties. It’s now visited by up to half a million people each year.
It’s also now presented at Cottesloe Beach in Perth and Snowy Valleys in NSW. It’ll be displayed from Wednesday, March 1 to Saturday, March 18, 2024 in Cottesloe and will be permanently displayed along Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail, which you can also follow along with using an interactive trail map.
Last year, artist Bruno Catalano was announced as the recipient of the EY People’s Choice Prize for his sculpture “Benoit”. He received $5,000 in prize money after visitors to the Cottlesloe exhibition voted his work as their favourite among the sculptures on display.
“I’d like to congratulate Bruno Catalano on winning the EY People’s Choice Award for 2023,” said EY’s Managing Partner Western Region Fiona Drummond. “His superb piece, ‘Benoit’, is innovative, interactive and introspective, and has obviously resonated with the people of Perth and visitors from across Western Australia.”
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