Mark up your calendars and start dreaming of warm, sunny days – one of Sydney’s most beloved events, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, is back on our city’s coastline from this week. The Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk (the spectacular two-kilometre stretch between two of Sydney's best beaches) will be transformed once again, with more than 100 eye-catching art installations by Australian and international sculptors. The 2024 edition of Sculpture by the Sea will run from Friday, October 18 to November 4, and as ever, it will be totally free to visit.
The exhibition always beckons the start of the Sydney summer, with some 450,000 visitors expected to pop down for a stroll over the course of 18 days. "Sculptures" always showcases an eclectic mix of art styles, from the comedy and commentary of a life-sized ice cream truck melting into a puddle on the sand, to a nonchalant oversized lobster reclining on a folding chair, to more abstract-looking structures that defy the laws of physics.
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Last year, the popular cultural event celebrated its momentous 25th anniversary (and we were on the scene to suss out the sculptural highlights). That’s not a bad run (so far) for something that had humble beginnings as a one-day exhibition that was run by volunteers and featured works by 64 artists, attracting a cool 25,000 visitors. Since then, the event has grown to become the largest annual free-to-the-public outdoor sculpture exhibition in the world, featuring numerous esteemed international artists. We love to see it.
The popularity and goodwill of the Bondi exhibition has inspired tons of copycats and spin-offs, including the creation of Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe in Perth, which has become just as much a part of Perth as the Bondi show is to Sydney. Cute!
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