Cart

Sculptures (destroyed) by the Sea: Huge waves batter Sydney’s coast as world famous art exhibition is ruined when three installations are wrecked

  • Three installations at Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea have been destroyed
  • A number of other artworks have been damaged by the wild conditions 
  • Tamarama Beach was smashed with monstrous 12-foot swell and high tide

Powerful tides and relentless waves have destroyed at least three installations and damaged several more at Sculpture by the Sea in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

For the first time in 20 years of exhibitions, a monstrous 12-foot swell blasted the Bondi coastline, with torrents of white water surging through Tamarama beach.

Despite efforts to relocate some of the artworks planted in the sand, an even higher tide than anticipated dragged a number of the works directly into the ocean.

39a89de000000578-0-image-m-24_1477300121946

Powerful tides and relentless waves have destroyed at least three installations at Sculpture by the Sea in Sydney’s east

39a89de400000578-3866476-an_enormous_red_havaiana_thong_and_bronzed_rhino_buried_in_the_s-m-35_1477300856658

An enormous red Havaiana thong and bronzed rhino buried in the sand were both battered by water but remained intact when conditions eased

WATCH VIDEO HERE >>>

An enormous red Havaiana thong and bronzed rhino buried in the sand were both battered by water but remained intact when conditions eased on Monday afternoon.

Sightseers watched on in horror as the waves pounded the artworks.

‘Fair Dinkum Offshore Processing’ – an artwork by Bronek Kozka – fell victim to the wild conditions, thrashed by the king tide before being flushed out into the ocean.

Mr Kozka told Sydney Morning Herald that he was in ‘shock’ and ‘still processing’ the news that his work had been ‘totally been broken apart.’

‘The emotions are going up and down a little bit,’ the 46-year-old said.

‘I’m upset that it’s gone, but I’m more upset that offshore processing is an issue we need to keep in peoples’ minds all the time, and now they won’t be seeing it.’

39a8a8fd00000578-0-image-a-23_1477300028204

Festival organisers tried to save the works by moving them further up the beach and anchoring them in the sand – to no avail

Two further artworks placed precariously by the rocks on the walkway between Bondi and Tamarama were destroyed by the conditions.

David Handley, founder of Sculpture by the Sea, told Fairfax that organisers had taken a number of precautions to try and save all the artworks on Tamarama beach.

A number of the artworks were pushed back 25 metres on the beach, and all of them were anchored in the sand – some almost a metre deep.

‘Today’s king tide, it’s right on high tide now, and a huge swell. So unfortunately we’ve really got the trifecta,’ he said.

‘The work that has been destroyed, we moved it 25 metres back from the end of the stormwater drain. In all these years we’ve never had a work damaged on there, but the waves were so strong they still swept it off.

39a8c00400000578-0-image-a-26_1477300148330

The festival founder said it was the worst conditions he had contended with in 20 years

Click here to view the full article >>>