Fascinating historic archival images are coming to life at the latest free exhibition at the Flinders University Museum of Art (FUMA).

Anarchive: knowledge follows form (open to the public from 27 April – 19 June 2026) is a major new solo exhibition by South Australian artist Bridget Currie that reimagines the archive as a living, evolving force.

Developed in response to FUMA’s nationally recognised ‘Post-object and Documentation Art’ collection, the exhibition brings archival materials from the 1960s and 1970s into the present. It features works by Bonita Ely, Alison Goodwin, Poppy Johnson, Dorothy Thompson and Eva Yuen Man-Wah.

FUMA Director Fiona Salmon says: “It rethinks how these histories are preserved and activated – transforming the archive from something fixed into something alive.”

Through a series of interpretive works, the exhibition invites audiences to engage directly with the collection, transforming it from a static repository into a space of inquiry.

Curator Sasha Grbich says the exhibition also addresses long-standing gaps in the historical record.

“Experimental art archives in South Australia have historically excluded or underrepresented women and First Nations artists,” she says.

“Bridget’s ‘anarchival’ approach responds to these omissions. It challenges dominant narratives and presents new ways of understanding the past.”

Among the archival highlights is work by Dorothy Thompson, whose playful and political performances in the 1970s used bird costuming as a form of protest.

“In one photograph, a canary marches for women’s liberation holding a placard declaring ‘women are not chicks.’ “It is such a great clapback that still resonates today,” says Flinders alumna Ms Grbich.

Anarchive: knowledge follows form constitutes part of Sasha Grbich’s Experimental Art Anarchive research, a project connecting contemporary art practices with Adelaide’s experimental art histories.

Co-presented by Flinders University Museum of Art and Adelaide Contemporary Experimental, the project extends beyond the gallery through a guest-edited issue of Artlink magazine.

For further information, visit the Flinders University webpage: Anarchive: knowledge follows form

The exhibition was an opportunity to launch EXPERIMENTAL ART: Rattling the Archives.

The Flinders University Museum of Art (FUMA) is located at Flinders University’s Bedford Park campus (ground floor Social Sciences North building near Humanities Road and adjacent carpark 5)

Weekdays 10am – 5pm

Thursday until 7pm (closed weekends and public holidays)

 ENTRY IS FREE