Take 5

Public Art at Flinders University

Public art at Flinders University animates the campus, transforming everyday spaces into sites of inspiration, reflection and exchange. These works spark curiosity and conversation, enriching the intellectual and cultural life of the university. They give visible form to Flinders’ values—creativity, inclusivity and critical inquiry—while enhancing the atmosphere and character of the built environment. Embedded in the rhythms of daily life, public art invites moments of unexpected connection, fosters a sense of belonging and contributes to a strong and distinctive campus identity. Discover some of our public works below. 

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.

Yungkurrinthi Inparrila was created to support cultural belonging, community, ceremony, celebration and the inclusion of Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. The Kaurna name combines Yungkurrinthi, meaning “to impart knowledge, communicate, and share information,” and Inparrila, meaning “meeting place.”

Officially opened in June 2022 with the installation of its final design element—a Kaurna wardli (shelter)—the space centres on a structure designed by multi-disciplinary artist James Tylor and architectural designer Samantha Rich. The wardli is the heart of Yungkurrinthi Inparrila, offering a place for gathering, reflection and connection.

Yungkurrinthi Inparrila is a space for the whole Flinders University community to honour Country, cultural knowledge and learning. It was made possible by a generous bequest from the late Ms Shirley Mathews, a former Flinders student. A plaque in the space commemorates her legacy and lasting contribution.

The project was delivered in partnership with Flinders University Properties, Facilities and Development, WAX Design, Iguana Creative, and SARAH Construction.

Search for knowledge (1995) is a six-part stone installation by Margaret Worth, an artist renowned for her pioneering work in the field of abstraction in the 1960s and 70s, and later in sculpture and environmental art.

Former Vice Chancellor Professor John Lovering personally commissioned Worth having admired her public art concepts proposed for the regional South Australian town of Waikerie. Responding to his brief to represent “freedom and rigour as the basis for knowledge”, Worth created an installation of six stones: the warm-toned calca granite engraved to symbolise ’rigour’, the darker split and etched norite indicative of the liberation of ’freedom’, and the smaller norite boulders representing knowledge” yet to be gained through the freedom and rigour of investigation”.[2]

Once positioned on open lawn on the south ridge at Bedford Park, Search for knowledge has since become embedded in its surrounding landscape amongst shrubs and grasses. Though less visible, the boulders quietly uphold values that continue to resonate with Flinders University—rigour and freedom serving as foundations for integrity and innovation.

In each piece of rock I pick up, I see, a potential picture straight away…the inspiration lies in the form of carving itself and not so much in its representational element… My work implies movement, and I invite the viewer to touch and follow the lines of my sculptures.[3]

Silvio Apponyi’s Woman Washing Her Hair (1989) was inspired by his visit to the Australian Dance Theatre in Tarntanya/Adelaide in the mid-1980s, where he observed dancers in rehearsal, capturing their movements through a series of wax studies. Captivated by the fluidity and expressiveness of the human form in motion, Apponyi translated these observations into a series of wooden carvings, refining the gestures and rhythms of the body. This process ultimately culminated in Woman Washing Her Hair, a granite sculpture that distils movement into a simplified yet dynamic abstract form. The work’s flowing lines and sinuous contours are characteristic of Apponyi’s early sculptural language, demonstrating his interest in reducing the human figure to its essential curves and rhythms. This approach reflects the influence of modernist Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși (1876–1957), whose work similarly sought to capture the essence of form through smooth, organic shapes and a refined sense of balance. By abstracting the human figure, Apponyi emphasises the sculptural qualities of movement and transformation, creating a work that resonates with both classical and contemporary influences.

Aida Azin and Kaspar Schmidt Mumm’s Untitled (2019) mural at Flinders University’s Sturt precinct is a vibrant, collaborative work deeply rooted in student voices that reflects the artists’ socially engaged practices. Together with Flinders’ student Brianna Fantis, the artists conducted interviews and devised surveys to inform the development of the work and capture the spirit of life on campus. Schmidt Mumm expressed: “This mural is a reaction to its environment. We communicated with students and asked them their opinions … they are inhabiting the space, they own it… we just want to help them own it,”[4] emphasising the value of student perspectives and connection to place.

This process led to some unexpected discoveries for the artists, including the playful inclusion of the University’s ubiquitous wood duck alongside other native fauna including the magpie and threatened red-tailed black cockatoo. Azin and Schmidt Mumm’s bold depictions of these birds position them as stewards of the campus against a backdrop of native flora, waterways and people. The artists’ use of dramatic brushstrokes, strong shadows and vivid colouration in the mural breathes life into the Sturt precinct and depicts narratives that cultivate a sense of belonging informed by their explorations of identity, displacement and collective experience.

[1] Adam Dutkiewicz, “Spacescape,” artwork plaque, n.d.
[2] Margaret Worth, personal communication with Flinders University Art Museum, February 10, 2025.
[3] Amzad H. Mian, Sculpture of the outdoors: an exhibition of sculptures by Silvio Apponyi (Flinders University Art Museum, 1990), 4–5.
[4] Kaspar Schmidt Mumm, interview for Flinders University Sturt Murals, Frankie Films, August 21, 2020, audio, 00:58.

Heidi Kenyon and Fiona Salmon

April 2025
© Flinders University