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Cottesloe sculptures take shape

Baby boom: Czech artist David Cerny's giant babies are moved into place. Picture: Steve Ferrier/The West Australian

The sculpture culture club has reconvened at Cottesloe beach.

Artists and heavy machinery have scurried around between beachgoers, digging holes and installing works for the Sculpture by the Sea opening on Friday.

The free two-week exhibition has returned to the sand and terraced lawns of Cottesloe for the 11th year, with nearly 70 diverse artworks from around the world.

Among them is Czech artist David Cerny's trio of giant babies, which have microchips in place of facial features and trace their family tree to a group clinging to Prague's main television tower.

About half the artists are from WA, including Ben Juniper, with his 3.5m stainless steel and black metal work called Event Horizon.

Juniper, a regular Sculpture by the Sea exhibitor, said his piece was the culmination of several works over the years inspired by his witnessing a star turning into a supernova in 1987.

"When I say witness, what I saw in 1987 actually happened 180,000 years earlier," he said.

Other highlighted WA works include Tim Macfarlane Reid's One Door Opens, Norton Flavell's giant ball and chain, Annette Thas' dress from hundreds of Barbie doll dresses, Tim Burns' decaying crashed car and the submerged sculpture of Olivia Samec and James Moe.

The 31 WA artists will be in the running for the $10,000 WA Sculptor's Scholarship.