[1] His work included painting (instrumental in developing geometric art in Australia), photography, film-making, theatre design, fabric design, murals, kinetic and static sculpture, stained glass, vitreous enamel murals, op-collages, computer graphics, and laser art.
[4] Joseph Stanislaus Ostoja-Kotkowski was born in Golub, Poland, on 28 December 1922,[5] descending from an old noble family that was part of the Clan of Ostoja.
In 1956 Ostoja met and collaborated with Ian Davidson in the production of the short film Five South Australian Artists, and became involved in stage and theatre set design.
He co-produced several experimental films again with Ian Davidson, including The Quest of Time in 1957 Ostoja's work in abstract expression began to receive accolades.
He started to design sets for theatre and dance including for Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello (1957); the South Australian production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (1958); Gaetano Donizetti's Elixir of Love, with novel light settings and modulations, for the Elder Conservatorium of the University of Adelaide which used his techniques for their Opera Workshops (1959); for The Egg; and for two performances of the South Australian Ballet Theatre with light/colour abstract presentations (1959).
Ostoja then designed innovative "abstracted" scenery for a production of The Marriage of Figaro and Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw.
1961 Ostoja designed the sets for the controversial South Australian production of Patrick White's Ham Funeral - also Alan Seymour's Swamp Creatures, both performed by the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild.
Max Harris, in The Bulletin of 20 October 1962, praised Ostoja's sets for My Cousin from Fiji in Union Theatre, Adelaide, and his technique of rear screen projections as later adopted throughout Australia.
At Christmas, in the Elder Conservatorium, collaborating again with Derek Jolly, Ostoja gave what was probably the world's first "visual concert", using special projectors and incorporating music, colours and shapes.
Also for the Adelaide Festival of Arts of that year, he designed the largest light mosaic ever staged up to that time, upon the facade of an 11-storey building.
1965 Ostoja designed and made the first light kinetic mural in Australia, and continued to evolve theatrical works using multi-screen and Multi-projector techniques.
1966 With John Dallwitz, Ostoja was invited by the Adelaide Festival of Arts to present more experimental theatre, Sound and image 1966.
This highly acclaimed production incorporated Australian poetry into the sound, electronic music, and visual images and featured the dancer Antonio Rodrigues.
The architect Robin Boyd commissioned Ostoja to design two large Op murals for the Australian Pavilion entrance at the Expo 67.
Ostoja was awarded a Churchill Fellowship, which enabled him to have extensive world travel, comparing art and technology in many countries.
1970 Ostoja presented an Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime theme in his "Sound and Image" theatre, working with leading contemporary figures in poetry, music and dance.
Australia Post produced a stamp issue designed by Ostoja (using a laser), to launch the first Australian "electronic mail" system.
For the Director of the new Scitech Discovery Centre [1] Archived 2 July 2006 at the Wayback Machine, Perth, Ostoja designed, produced, and exhibited a work which reveals the effects of theremin and light.
1988 to 1989 Australian Bicentenary celebrations included a project sponsored by the Polish community to honour the name of Australia's highest mountain, Mount Kosciuszko.
In collaboration with sculptor John Dowie, Ostoja constructed a geometrical, stainless steel monument at the entrance to the town of Cooma, New South Wales.
Reading about chaos theory and Professor Mandelbrot's Beauty of Fractals, Ostoja began to work in this area.
Ostoja-Kotkowski's life and art; papers, programs, pamphlets, photographs, slides, negatives relating to his theatre designs, sculptures, murals, BP star, art, film, laser shows, computer graphics, stained glass and photography; computer disks; original art works; a theatre set model; models of sculptures; papers relating to his immigration and his relationship to his Polish family and the Polish community; films, videos and audio tapes.
Explorer in Sound and Light is a study of the works of Joseph Stanislaw Ostoja-Kotkowski, which argues his place as a pioneer in the development of experimental arts in Australia from his introduction of Abstract Expressionism to the Australian art fraternity, his development of Theatre Set Design, Sound and Image productions and his experimentation with electronic images, laser beam technology and performance.