Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi is the world’s largest, free-to-the-public outdoor sculpture exhibition occupying the 2km coastal walk between Bondi to Tamarama each Spring, with the exception of 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic.
The Balnaves Foundation and the Balnaves family celebrated the 25th anniversary of Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi in October 2023 with an award named in honour of Neil Balnaves AO, who personally supported Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi in its formative years.
Neil was extremely passionate about ensuring all people have access to art and recognized very early on the potential of Sculpture by the Sea to bring this unique artform to the public in a new and dynamic way. Since its inception in 1997, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi has exhibited 2,691 sculptures by 1,129 artists from 51 countries and is visited by up to half a million people each year.
The $25,000 Neil Balnaves AO Anniversary Prize was awarded to Japanese artist Masuyaki Sugiyama for his piece Moving Stillness (2020/2023).
Gracing the dunes at Tamarama Beach from the 20th of October to the 6th of November 2023, Moving Stillness was a reflection on the impermanency of objects.
‘Things do not move. But it has not been there from the beginning. It came from somewhere. And it stayed there, now quiet. Traces of movement can be seen in shapes of things that do not move.’
– Sculptor Masayuki Sugiyama on Moving Stillness
