CRI听力:'Floating Rock' from China shines at seaside sculpture festival in Australia

A stainless steel art work from China called "Floating Rock" has become the highlight of a seaside sculpture festival in Perth in Western Australia. For more of the details, we turn to CRI's Australia correspondent, Qi Zhi. 

The "Sculpture by the Sea" festival is now in its 14th year at Cottesloe Beach west of Perth.

Chinese contemporary artist Zhan Wang created his art work especially for the festival after he was invited to attend by Tourism Western Australia.

The 57-year-old Beijing-based artist has exhibited extensively in the world's most prestigious museums and institutions.

His work was the first by a Chinese contemporary sculptor to be added to the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, one of the world's premier art institutions.

The "Floating Rock" is the latest addition to Zhan Wang's well-known "Artificial Rocks" series. Zhan started the series back in 1995 to express a feeling of change, freedom, and the unknown in a rich and chaotic world.

The two-meter-tall and four-meter-wide "Floating Rock" is anchored to the sea floor, which makes this exhibition a dream-come-true for the artist.

"The key here is that no one has ever tried this, I'm the pioneer, and that is the most important thing in artistic creation. If your work is thought-provoking, it will grip the viewers' imagination. I think part of the function of art is to inspire people's imagination, and the other part is to express the artist's own ideas," said Zhan.

"Floating Rock" is one of more than 70 sculptures installed at the beach. They include two other works by Chinese artists.

Local visitors have enjoyed seeing art works coming from a different cultural perspective.

"I think they are quite unique and different to Australian artists. Australian artists, I think, are very raw, whereas Chinese art are very polished. It's definitely particular to your culture. The 'Floating Rock' is crazy! How does someone think of that idea!" said an Australian woman.

David Handley is the exhibition's founding director. He says bringing in international artists, including those from China, has been a great success, with art works from China being well received by visitors.

"The wish back in 2004 to start engaging with China and India has been a reasonably successful and very happy journey. So in this exhibition we have three artists from China and one from India, and we'd always like some more," said Handley.

"Sculpture by the Sea" is one of the world's largest free outdoor sculpture exhibitions. Since the inaugural exhibition back in 2005, around 500 artists have exhibited at Cottesloe, including some of the world's best sculptures.

This year's exhibition, which opened on March 2, is expected to attract more than 200 thousand visitors. The festival will run until March 19.

For CRI, this is Qi Zhi reporting from Sydney, Australia.