Cave Urban and GhostNets Australia receive the Allens People’s Choice Prize and the Kids’ Choice Prize at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2012

The recipients of the Allens People’s Choice and the Kids’ Choice Prizes at Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2012 were announced on the closing day of the exhibition, Sunday 4 November. The awards ceremony was hosted by 702 ABC presenter Simon Marnie and attended by The Hon George Souris, MP, Minister for Tourism, Major Events, Hospitality and Racing and Minster for The Arts and Councillor Sally Betts, Mayor of Waverley.

NSW artists collective Cave Urban were awarded the Allens People’s Choice Prize of $5,000 for their work mengenang (memory), awarded by Michael Rose, Chief Executive Partner at Allens. mengenang (memory) is an installation of 222 bamboo poles, each a musical instrument and each pole a reflection on the lives lost in the Bali bombings. Cave Urban is a design collective of architects and musicians with a focus on sustainable living systems, including Lachlan Brown, Nici Long, Juan-Pablo Pinto, Clary Akon, Kate Ratner, Jed Long, Angel Heradia, Angus Hudson, Kevin Nixon and Alice Nivison. Cave Urban were also awarded the Waverley Council Mayor’s prize of $5,000 announced at the Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2012 opening night party on October 18.

GhostNets Australia won the Kids’ Choice Prize of $3,000 for their work ghost net crocodile as voted for by the thousands of children that visited the exhibition. The sculpture was created through the Ghost Net Art Project, a group of remote community Indigenous artists who create works using nets retrieved by Indigenous rangers from Australia’s remote northern coastline. The Kids’ Choice Prize was generously donated and presented by Rebel Penfold-Russell OAM.

Two other popular vote prizes were awarded today, chosen by staff that work closely with the exhibition; the Waverley Council Parks Staff Prize, which was presented by Councillor Sally Betts, Mayor of Waverley and the Sculpture by the Sea Staff Pick, which was presented by Sculpture by the Sea Sponsorship Assistant Manon Pietra. For the first time both prizes were awarded to the one work; mirador by NSW artists Rachael Couper and Ivana Kuzmanovska. The beautiful dome structure made from plywood, timber and perspex, stands 3.5 meters high on the cliffs of Marks Park, Tamarama. The reflective interior skin of the mirador observatory juxtaposes images of self with views of the environment, highlighting the complex relationship between man and nature.

Founding director David Handley said of this year’s exhibition "It has been wonderful to stage this year's exhibition and to see so many people enjoying the sculptures by artists from around the world. To have some of the leading sculptors of the world such as Sui Jianguo from China and Sir Anthony Caro from England alongside exciting emerging sculptors from Australia such as Ivana Kuzmanovska and Rachel Couper who created mirador is something special for the artists and visitors. Thank you to all of the artists for making this year's show possible.”

Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi 2012, the world’s largest free-to-the-public outdoor sculpture exhibition, ran from 18 October until 4 November 2012 on the stunning Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk. Each year the exhibition attracts over 500 000 people to see the works of over 100 artists along the coastline.

Sculpture by the Sea is an international series of exhibitions presented at Cottesloe Beach in Perth, Western Australia from 8 to 25 March 2013 and in the city of Aarhus in Denmark from 1 – 30 June 2013 under the Patronage of TRH Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.