Tomás Saraceno, The Seeds of Flight, 2025, extra dense, dyed raw cotton fabric, carbon fibre, aluminium, rope, sailcloth, 17 sculptures of variable dimensions installed on the three public levels of Parkline Place
Specialising in Australian and international contemporary and emerging art, Barbara Flynn is a curatorial advisor to government and the private sector, working with artists to guide the creation of singular new works of art for the public domain.
The art projects Flynn facilitates attract the artists who are making original and important contributions to the contemporary art dialogue today. Recognised as the art advisor who pioneered in the field of Sydney public art and helped to develop the field Australia-wide, Flynn has supported artists to realise their most ambitious objectives in 40 projects delivered all over Australia.
Flynn works to bring integrity, imagination and a fresh outlook to every project she undertakes by coming up with unique ideas that are fine- tuned to the project vision and the site. A love of Sydney underlies her work, coupled with an appreciation of how it is a unique place that deserves to lead with its own innovative approaches. It is a little-known fact that Sydney is leading the world in public art projects. Where else do we see the combination of cranes on the horizon and a lord mayor and city council that require significant contributions to art above a certain threshold of investment, accounting for the city’s leadership in public art globally? Against that background, the projects Flynn has delivered have been recognised as exemplary and ground-breaking by professionals and peers worldwide.
As Art Advisor to the Paul Ramsay Foundation for their new Sydney headquarters in 2022, Flynn oversaw the first work of public art in Sydney by Barkandji artist Badger Bates, the widely recognised and respected activist and advocate for the health of the Barka, the Darling River.
Working with AMP Capital on its Quay Quarter Sydney project for Circular Quay (2015–22), Flynn proposed aligning Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones, one of Australia’s most singular younger-generation artists, with the three emerging architectural practices (Studio Bright, Silvester Fuller, SJB) selected to design the buildings for the Young and Loftus Streets site. On the Quay Tower site next door, the rich working relationship between Copenhagen-based architects 3XN, who have designed the new tower, and artist Olafur Eliasson (based in Copenhagen and Berlin) has informed Eliasson’s major-scale work of art for the tower’s public rooftop.
Her role as Curatorial Advisor to the Barangaroo Delivery Authority and Lend Lease for Barangaroo (2014–16) saw her steer the process of selecting and commissioning artists for a range of innovative, site-specific artworks for the new precinct, Barangaroo South on Sydney Harbour. As Curatorial Advisor to the City of Sydney for the City Centre (2013–20), Flynn drafted the 2013 City Centre Public Art Plan (unanimously adopted by the City’s councillors), and identified artists to be part of the transformation of central Sydney and George Street. Over the eight years of her tenure, Flynn worked closely with City staff to deliver the artworks, ensuring the viability of the City’s relationships with the artists and the quality of the final product. South of Sydney, Flynn has overseen the realisation of an award-winning suite of works by New Zealand artist Mike Hewson for the revitalised Crown Street Mall, on behalf of Wollongong City Council.
Flynn presents regularly to the approval authorities of the City of Sydney and the New South Wales Government. These relationships have given her the experience to know what the City and its Public Art Advisory Panel will require, and the polish to advocate effectively and successfully for projects at all stages of the work and the approvals processes. She is author of more than 30 public art plans that have been held up as model reports by experts in the field.
Before arriving in Australia in 1996, Flynn was a gallery owner in New York (1980–94) and an executive with Gagosian Gallery, New York (1994–98). She held assistant curatorial positions in the Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Krefeld, and Städtische Kunsthalle Düsseldorf museums in Germany, and conducted interviews with Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Sigmar Polke and Blinky Palermo in 1975–77, with funding from a Yale University Murray Fellowship. Her studies in art history were undertaken at Yale University (BA cum laude 1975) and New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts.
Flynn’s knowledge and contacts are extensive, which enables her to bring an active network of artists to any project she oversees. She has the credibility and reputation to secure artists who are the most exceptional working in the world today, and the management skills and diplomacy to see the projects through. Flynn’s abilities in these areas are unique, and she uses them to achieve singular results for artists, architects and clients.
Further reading