Spacescape

Spacescape by avant-garde artist Joseph Stanislaw Ostoja Kotkowski is an expansive mural located at the entrance to the Flinders University Information, Science and Technology building. Originally commissioned for the Adelaide airport by the Commonwealth Government through an Australia-wide competition, the mural took six weeks for Ostoja Kotkowski to complete with the assistance of fellow artists Virginia Jay, Colin Burchett and Colin Gardiner. Spacescape was installed as a colourfully energetic fixture at the airport’s Departure Gate 1 where it remained until it was gifted to Flinders University after renovations in 1988. 

Art critic Dr Adam Dutkiewicz revealed that Ostoja Kotkowski drew inspiration for this work from an imagined cosmic architecture and employed mathematical principles to create optical illusions and brainteasers.  This includes a twisted triangle once used to train astronauts to cope with perceptual tricks in zero gravity.  Reflecting the artist’s broad interest in psychedelia and pop culture, in Dutkiewicz’s view the work intended to signal Adelaide as “an artistic centre” speaking boldly to the interface between art, science and technology which was at the forefront of international culture at the time.[1] Spacescape is the last remaining public mural by Ostoja Kotkowski in Adelaide, and as such is an important testament to the artist’s work and South Australia’s history of experimental public art.

[1] Adam Dutkiewicz, “Spacescape,” artwork plaque, n.d.