University of South Australia's Samstag Museum of Art is ushering in its third and final season for the year with three thought-provoking exhibitions set to captivate audiences and spark reflection.
Launching this October, the Wirltuti season (Wirltuti meaning spring in Kaurna culture) brings together diverse artistic voices and perspectives, offering visitors a chance to engage with contemporary issues, challenge assumptions, and experience art in unexpected ways.
Open to the public from 16 October to 5 December, the new season features NSW-based artistic duo and Samstag scholars (2006) Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy, who will premiere their vibrant DIY NASA Mission Control Centre and moving image work Psychopomp, exploring the porous relationship between science and mysticism.
From NASA's Apollo, Mercury and Gemini mission names, which are directly inspired by the gods of antiquity, to pioneer rocket scientist Jack Parson's conversion to Aleister Crowley's Church of Thelema, Cordeiro and Healy identify a strong spiritual thread in the history of rocket and space exploration.
Melding the significant historical text, the poem Hym to Pan, with footage of farming fertility festivals in Thailand and Loas, Psychopomp explores the expressive potential of motion, technology and pagan rituals.
Psychopomp is the outcome of the 2024 UniSA Jeffrey Smart Commission.
For the 2025 Adelaide Film Festival, Nisa East, Anna Lindner and Yasemin Sabuncu will present 5 STEPS FOR BETTER LIVING, MAXIMUM GAINS AND MANIFESTING YOUR MOST OPTIMISED SELF!! The work originates from the 2023 AFF EXPAND Lab, an initiative bringing together artists and screen-based practitioners to develop collaborative approaches to making moving images.
5 STEPS... offers a satirical, critical reflection on the trends of commodified, masculine 'wellness' in times of existential crisis. The multi-channel installation draws on experimental performance, surrealism and dark humour to examine the way wellness subcultures can be used to promote self-centred ideas of freedom and success.
The AFF EXPAND Lab has been initiated by the Adelaide Film Festival and delivered in partnership with the Samstag Museum of Art, Illuminate Adelaide, Art Gallery of South Australia and the Balnaves Foundation, with support from Arts South Australia.
Samstag will also display a selection of works by Marri Ngarr artist Ryan Presley. Presley's figurative paintings weave personal and cultural motifs with art historical references to evoke First Nations narratives of strength, sovereignty and survival. His practice explores religious iconography, often featuring intricate patterning and human figures set against seductive and lyrical dreamscapes composed of clouds, sand dunes and industrial motifs. Presley's exhibition is part of the 2025 Tarnanthi Festival.
In 2024, UniSA commissioned Presley to paint a portrait of its Chancellor, The Honourable John Hill, which will be on display during a launch event for the Wirltuti season on Wednesday 15 October, 5pm to 7pm.
Presley will also be in conversation with art historian Andrea Bubenik on Saturday 18 October, 3pm to 4pm. Further Wirltuti events will be announced in due course.
Samstag Museum of Art is located at UniSA's City West campus, an easy 15-minute walk from the city centre. Free city trams operate daily. Samstag is open Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 5pm. Visit the website for more information.
Images:
- Ryan Presley, The sun never sets; so we daydream I, 2023. Photograph by Carl Warner. Courtesy the Artist and Milani Gallery, Meanjin/Brisbane.
- Sean Cordeiro and Claire Healy, Psychopomp, 2025, production still. Courtesy the Artists, N. Smith Gallery and MAGMA Galleries.
- Nisa East, Anna Lindner and Yasemin Sabuncu, 5 STEPS FOR BETTER LIVING, MAXIMUM GAINS AND MANIFESTING YOUR MOST OPTIMISED SELF!!, 2025, production still. Courtesy the Artists.
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