Experiencing BIG Sculpture is different from visiting an art gallery, not just because the art is in more than one spot, but because the art can be touched. There are signs telling people not to do this, but it’s in a public area and the public will do what the public will do. That’s why public art needs to be hardy – when you say ‘it’s out in the elements’, the public is one of those elements.
Linden New Art’s CEO Dr Vincent Alessi mentioned a similar notion at the festival’s opening on Sunday afternoon (15 December). He noted that there’s an unspoken code of conduct once you go past the threshold of an art gallery – the art mustn’t be touched. It must instead be mused over, deciphered and appreciated from a distance. Once art goes out into a public space, however, all those rules, spoken or otherwise, go out the window, strangely similar to a central argument in the film The People Vs George Lucas – that once the masses embrace a piece of art, they become custodians of it.
Similar to the various Sculpture by the Sea festivals, there really is something special about art in a public space like this, whether you are consciously tracking it down with a map or accidentally bumping into it. There’s a tangibility to the environments, a solidity in the artworks and fleeting, unpredictable moments of shared social experience.
The 21 artworks are incredibly diverse in almost every aspect. Simone Thomson and Anton McMurray’s collaboration, a trio of solid timber leaves covered in Australian Aboriginal paintings, sits on the lawns of St Kilda Town Hall; Jason Waterhouse’s Automotive Geologies, (a lopsided VW Golf car), across from Luna Park, is both a visual curio and selfie magnet; Jeremy Blincoe’s work, in Linden (BIG Sculpture’s hub this year) is characteristically Cronenbergian; and the trio of works in the Veg Out Community Gardens give a reminder that the festival has its origins there, when Adrian Spurr and Mariella Del Conte held the first festival within the gardens back in 2019.
Not all the artworks are open to the elements – Al Phemister’s and Jason Hartcup’s pieces sit comfortably within Acland Court, and Adrian Spurr’s reclines in Readings bookshop’s air-conditioned comfort.
But wait, there’s more! Not content filling St Kilda’s streets with a deliciously diverse assortment of sunbaking conversation starters, for the duration of the festival, Linden gallery will also be host to three pieces by the late German-Australian sculptor Inge King. Whether or not that name rings a bell, you’ve certainly seen her work, most notably her 1974 piece Forward Surge, which sits between the State Theatre and Hamer Hall at Arts Centre Melbourne. The three pieces in Linden – all presumably prototypes – are a highlight if you’re a fan of her work.
There are also artist workshops during the two-month festival, details of which will be posted on the website.
The only niggling things about this predominantly world-class display of quality public art are the maps of where the works are located, both online and on paper. This reviewer found the website’s festival map strangely unwieldy (needing to use two fingers to move the map around), and I think the physical, hand-drawn aerial map (which I received at the opening event, but can’t find downloadable anywhere) would be a bit of a nightmare to anyone not already familiar with St Kilda’s landmarks.
Read: Exhibition review: Merrin Eirth, Vietta Korren-Steele, Works on Paper Salon, Tacit Gallery
Having said that, the festival still comes highly recommended. As if there weren’t enough reason already to spend a summer’s day in St Kilda, now there’s another one. Start your trip at Linden (checking out its annual Postcard Show while you’re there), grab a sculpture map and have fun exploring.
BIG Sculpture
Various artists, various sites around St Kilda
The BIG Sculpture installation runs until 19 February 2025.
