CREATIVEMOVE was appointed by the Mayor of Cairns Regional Council (CRC) and the peak tourism body, Tourism Tropical North Queensland (TTNQ), to work with Cairns-based artist Brian Robinson to create an exemplary international public art icon for the new global social movement, the Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef.

Through partnership funding, this $1.1 million sculpture was officially opened with a special smoking ceremony at dawn in August of 2017. The artwork is a symbol for Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef, a social movement to engage the world in the future of the World Heritage area. Through this monumental work, Robinson realises his most ambitious sculptural commission to date. The Citizens Gateway to the Great Barrier Reef is an 11m-wide sculpture with a 6m-high helix depicting a wave of sea creatures and birds led by a life-size stingray. This captivating piece is designed to frame a view out to the Reef from the Cairns Esplanade. The commission, which required nearly two years of design and fabrication, reaffirms Robinson’s significance as an important contemporary Indigenous artist and one of Australia’s leading public art practitioners. Not only is the Citizens Gateway a symbol of a global social movement but it will also surely become one of Australia’s most important cultural tourism drawcards.

“Stingrays capture the spirit of the Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef as they glide over the Reef without touching the coral, just as humankind should not touch the Reef,” suggests Robinson.

This project required CREATIVEMOVE to lead a team comprising TTNQ, CRC, Total Project Group Architects, and DCO Consulting Engineers to develop artwork opportunity, concept design and design development reports to realise this major work. We engaged Traditional Owners and other stakeholders; rigorously investigated site options and design engineering considerations; and assisted the artist to devise a stunning, large-scale public artwork of international standard.

CREATIVEMOVE’s project management and curatorial skills kept this project on program and on budget. We assisted the client to manage all contracts and agreements and to undertake a commercially competitive fabrication tender to secure the most economical and highly skilled fabrication services. We worked closely with the artist, a professional writer, and the consulting architects through all of the artwork and site design phases to ensure that all visualisations and text were consistent with international standards of artwork business cases. CREATIVEMOVE secured the site and fabricator and continued artist support and fabrication contract supervision on behalf of the client to realise this work in August 2017.