
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Library
Flinders University Logo Flinders University Logo
  • Study

    Study areas

    • Business
    • Computer science and information technology
    • Creative arts and media
    • Criminology
    • Defence and national security
    • Education
    • Engineering
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Humanities and social sciences
    • Innovation and enterprise
    • International relations and political science
    • Languages
    • Law
    • Medicine
    • Nursing and midwifery
    • Psychology
    • Science
    • Social work
    • Sport

    I am...

    • a high school student
    • a non-school leaver
    • a future honours student
    • a future postgraduate student
    • a future research student
    • a future online student
    • a future Indigenous student
    • an international student
    • a parent
    • a school counsellor/teacher
    Explore
    Admission pathways
    Apply
    Contact us
  • Study

    Study areas

    • Business
    • Creative arts
    • Education
    • Engineering
    • Environment
    • Government
    • Health sciences
    • Humanities
    • Information technology
    • Law
    • Medicine
    • Nursing
    • Psychology
    • Public health
    • Science
    • Social sciences
    • Social work

    International websites

    • China
    • Vietnam
    Explore Flinders
    Apply
    Contact us
  • Research

    Research areas

    • Engineering and technology
    • Health and medical
    • People and society
    • Science, environment and natural resources
    • Emerging research - Defence

    Fearless Research

    • Research Changing Lives

    I am...

    • a potential collaborator
    • a researcher
    • a potential research student
    • a current research student
    Research@Flinders
    Institutes and centres
    Partner with us
    Participate
  • Research

    Research areas

    • Engineering and technology
    • Health and medical
    • People and society
    • Science, environment and natural resources
    • Emerging research - Defence

    Fearless Research

    • Research Changing Lives

    I am...

    • a potential collaborator
    • a researcher
    • a potential research student
    • a current research student
    Research@Flinders
    Institutes and centres
    Partner with us
    Participate
  • Engage

    I want to...

    • Engage with us
    • Connect with students
    • Locate a clinic
    • Book a campus venue
    • Find a tender
    • Give to Flinders
    • Work at Flinders
    • Participate in a research study
    • See what's on
    • Shop Flinders merchandise
    • Explore Indigenous education

    Related links

    • Flinders New Venture Institute
    • Alumni
    • Health2Go
    • Flinders University Museum of Art
    • Flinders One Sport and Fitness
    Business and government
    Community
    Culture
    International
  • Alumni

    I want to...

    • Join an alumni network
    • Establish an alumni network
    • Share a memory
    • Access career services
    • Order a transcript
    • Give to Flinders
    • Update my details
    • Find a classmate
    • Shop Flinders merchandise
    Our alumni
    Benefits and services
    Get involved
    Stay connected
  • Giving

    Donate today

    • Donate online
    • Donate by mail
    • Giving online FAQs (PDF)
    • Staff Workplace Giving Program
    • Contact us

    Ways to give

    • Give in celebration or in memory
    • Leave a gift in your Will
    • Giving from overseas
    • Give a cultural gift
    • Get involved

    Donate to
    Why give
    Our donors
  • About

    The 2025 agenda

    • Vision and mission
    • Our strategic plan
    • Our values and ethos
    • Flinders Village

    Governance and leadership

    • University Council
    • Chancellor
    • Vice-Chancellor

    Our organisation

    • Colleges
    • Library
    • Professional services
    • Staff directory
    • Sustainability at Flinders

    Campus and locations

    • Bedford Park
    • Tonsley
    • City Campus
    • Flinders in the NT
    • Health and Medical Research Building
    Fast facts
    History
    Structure
    Contact us
  • Staff
  • Students
  • Library
  • You have no saved courses.

    Continue to explore your course options.

     
    Explore our courses

    Your saved courses

    {{{courseName}}}
    mail_outline
    delete
    View all saved courses
  • Quick links 
    • Current students
    • Staff
    • Library
    • Flinders dashboard (Okta)
    • Ask Flinders
    • Flinders Learning Online (FLO)
    • Parking
    • Campus map: Bedford Park
    • Staff directory
    • Jobs at Flinders
    • Shop Flinders merchandise

 
  • FUMA 

    FUMA Collections

    • Collections
    • Online Collections Catalogue
    • Public art
    • Publications
    • Internal Artwork Loan
    • Image reproduction form
    • Citing works of art

    Archives

    • Past exhibitions
    • Past programs
    • Annual Megaw lecture
    • History
    • News and media releases

    Education and opportunity

    • Academic programs
    • Object-based Learning Toolkit
    • School visits
    • Internships
    • Volunteers
    • Alumni Museum mornings

    Other

    • Search
    • Contact
    • Host an event at FUMA
    • FUMA Greeting Cards
    Donate
    Subscribe
    Visit
    Contact
  • Collections
  • Exhibitions
  • Programs
  • Education
  • Donate
  • Visit
FUMA-logo-white-long.png

Take 5

Optronic Kinetics

Optronic Kinetics was an art collective that emerged from the University of Sydney’s infamous Tin Sheds Art Workshop in the early 1970s. At this time, the Tin Sheds was a hotbed for radical thought, student activism and a celebrated ‘alternate art space’, where ideas about conceptual and post-object art were explored and put into practice. From the late 1960s to the early 1980s, the Tin Sheds gave rise to some of Australia’s most progressive and political creative practitioners.

Renowned sculptor and artist Bert Flugelman (1923-2013) was the Tin Sheds’ coordinator from 1968 to 1973, and under his guidance encouraged students from across the University’s disciplines to explore the Art Workshop’s offerings. Combined with the enthusiasm of artist, critic and theorist Donald Brook (1927-2018), a University of Sydney academic at the time, a small cohort of medical and engineering students began to investigate and experiment with electronics and movement. Initially the students had wanted to create ‘very conservative paintings’, so in response Flugelman gave them an introduction to sculpture and convinced them to push the boundaries of their own studies and skills. Flugelman and Brook believed that you did not need to master a creative discipline in order to understand it, but you had to be familiar with its ideas and processes. It was this guiding principle that brought Optronic Kinetics into being.

Spurred by the desire to amalgamate science and technology with art, the collective’s founding members included Fine Arts student Julie Ewington, now a recognised writer and curator, and electrical engineering students David Smith and Jim McDonnell. Together with Flugelman they created conceptually ambitious and humorous works such as Cubed tree, Feathered office and Flashing boob. Other works such as Electronic colour organ and Reflector employed cutting edge technological innovations and theories to bridge the perceived divide between art and science.

The collection of Optronic Kinetics’ work held at Flinders University Museum of Art (FUMA) was gifted by Emeritus Professor Donald Brook. Following his tenure at the University of Sydney, Brook was awarded the position of inaugural Chair of Visual Arts at Flinders University in 1974. Here he initiated FUMA’s Post-object and Documentation collection, now one of the most comprehensive national collections that documents conceptual art making in the 1960s and 1970s. This collection features works by acclaimed Australian and international artists such as Mike Parr, Stelarc, John Baldessari, Ulay and Marina Abramovic.

FUMA’s Post-object and Documentation collection can be viewed via the Online Collections Catalogue.

 

Madeline Reece
Exhibition and Public Programs Manager (Acting), Flinders University Museum of Art
Adelaide, Australia, 2020
 
© Flinders University Museum of Art

cubed-tree.jpg

Optronic Kinetics
active 1971-

Cubed tree   1971
gelatin silver photograph
25.4 x 20.3 cm

Gift of Emeritus Professor Donald Brook
Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 3092
© the Estate of Herbert Flugelman 2020

electronic-colour-organ.jpg

Optronic Kinetics  
active 1971-    

Electronic colour organ   1972
gelatin silver photograph
20.3 x 25.4 cm

Gift of Emeritus Professor Donald Brook
Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 3096
© the Estate of Herbert Flugelman 2020

feathered-office.jpg

Optronic Kinetics  
active 1971-    

Feathered office  1971
gelatin silver photograph
25.4 x 20.3 cm

Gift of Emeritus Professor Donald Brook
Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 3097
© the Estate of Herbert Flugelman 2020

flashing-boon.jpg

Optronic Kinetics  
active 1971-    

Flashing boob  1971
gelatin silver photograph
25.4 x 20.3 cm

Gift of Emeritus Professor Donald Brook
Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 3094
© the Estate of Herbert Flugelman 2020

reflector.jpg

Optronic Kinetics  
active 1971-    

Reflectors   1971
gelatin silver photograph
25.4 x 20.3 cm

Gift of Emeritus Professor Donald Brook
Collection of Flinders University Museum of Art 3095
© the Estate of Herbert Flugelman 2020

Support FUMA

Flinders University Museum of Art (FUMA) is generously supported by people who share the belief that art matters.

Donate

Join our mailing list

Join our mailing list and keep up to date with news, exhibitions and upcoming events.
 

Subscribe

Search FUMA

Flinders-FUMA-Logo-B_white.png
uama-white-logo.png

Flinders University Museum of Art
Flinders University I Sturt Road I Bedford Park SA 5042

Located ground floor Social Sciences North building, Humanities Road adjacent carpark 5

Telephone | +61 (08) 8201 2695
Email | museum@flinders.edu.au

Facebook Instagram

Monday to Friday | 10am - 5pm or by appointment
Thursdays | Until 7pm
Closed weekends and public holidays

FREE ENTRY

Flinders University Museum of Art is wheelchair accessible, please contact us for further information.

Website feedback | Disclaimer | Accessibility | Privacy | CRICOS Provider: 00114A

This website uses cookies

Flinders University uses cookies to ensure website functionality, personalisation and a variety of purposes as set out in its website privacy statement. This statement explains cookies and their use by Flinders.

If you consent to the use of our cookies then please click the button below:

Accept all cookies and continue

If you do not consent to the use of all our cookies then please click the button below. Clicking this button will result in all cookies being rejected except for those that are required for essential functionality on our website.

Reject all non-essential cookies and continue