We’re commissioning an artist, or artist led team, to design and deliver a major public artwork – an Urban Oasis in the heart of one of Australia’s bustling tourist cities. A design competition to choose the successful artist or artist led team is open now to local, national and international artists. The winning design will receive a $AUD330,000 commission.
We’re asking artists to respond to a space and transform it through art. It’s a challenging yet rewarding site for an artist. Located at one of the Gold Coast’s busiest junctions – where the city’s expanding light rail network crosses a key east-west pedestrian corridor – the artwork will become the instantly recognisable arrival marker for the intersection.
Urban Oasis will also signpost the evolving link between our vibrant nightlife at Surfers Paradise and the city’s cultural heart – the Gold Coast Cultural Precinct at Evandale. This is the beginnings of our cultural corridor.
The artwork will be highly visible and seen by:
· A tram full of people every 7.5 minutes
· 20,000 visitors staying in Surfers Paradise, Australia each night
· 347,000 people walking around Surfers Paradise each week.
An independent jury, chaired by Robyn Archer AO, the City’s Arts and Culture Strategic Advisor, will select up to five finalists and invite them to develop their designs further. The final artwork is expected to reflect the character of the Gold Coast, its subtropical abundance, to engage with the audience and ignite the imagination of locals and visitors.
Entries close 16 December 2015. The successful team will be invited to proceed to final installation by June 2016.
