Art and the homeless found in Bondi!

Today I took my class to Bondi for “Sculpture by the Sea” and the short walk along the coast to Bronte. It was heartening to see the walk so crowded with pensioner groups, ELICOS classes, tourists and school students all wrestling for elbow space in front of the artworks to flex their cameras. Even though the enthusiastic mass that descended upon the walkway, akin to the end-of-year sales, seemed a little intimidating, the throng of people were cheerful and relaxed. Unlike the locals heaving and cursing as they unsuccessfully tried to weave through the crowd in hot pants, tank tops and arm-banded iPods tied tight onto their leathery skin. The only reason why it pleases me terribly to see these people outnumbered by tourists and sightseers, is their fierce sense of proprietary over a beach that is technically public. I watched the way some of them reacted at the imposition of having to wait while elderly people stopped for a break or school-children ran up the wrong side of the stairs, I couldn’t believe one could be so indignant by having a jog interrupted. I overheard, two particularly brown shirtless men complain about the exhibition and express their relief that it would be over in two days, as they swatted their shirts around them, beating away the pestilence of the great unwashed.

On another note, the exhibition this year was lack lustre. On the inside, I’ve heard rumours and reports by many artists complaining about the indifferent management and that it is in fact, a private business and run as such. Exploitation aside, the artworks get an amazing amount of traffic (impossible in any gallery), as we witnessed that day and that is a gratifying phenomena for any artist to see. Typically my students were more interested in the surrounds than the art but a most peculiar sight captured their interest more than anything. An anarchic, little humpy, set against the rocky cliff in the south side of the beach. Some expected a performance and others wanted to see if someone was in there. Perched on the rock and just off the walkway, it commanded an amazing view of the beach. I thought it made a thought-provoking addition to a seaside town whose real-estate is populated by the obscenely wealthy, the sun-kissed fabulous, British ex-pats and tacky tourists all hoping to get a piece of the good-life. A little laminated sign made by the ‘Sculpture by the Sea’ management was erected near it and read “This is not an artwork.”

But it was the best thing there!