Australia’s national museum of screen culture, ACMI, will welcome back visitors tomorrow following its physical and digital transformation. Minister for Creative Industries Danny Pearson was at ACMI today to celebrate the official opening of the $40 million redevelopment.
“Victorians are hungry for creative experiences and ACMI’s reopening will entice more visitors back to the heart of Melbourne with new interactive and immersive exhibitions.” Victorian Minister for Creative Industries Danny Pearson commented “This redevelopment will further cement ACMI’s position as one of Victoria’s key creative institutions and one of the world’s best screen museums.”
Minister Pearson explained that Andrews Labor Government invested $36.6 million in the project, which also received corporate and philanthropic support. The redevelopment, designed in collaboration with award-winning Melbourne architects BKK, has created more than 100 jobs across the construction and creative industries. The Minister added that the Federation Square attraction has been transformed with new and improved exhibitions, facilities, artworks and cutting-edge technologies that celebrate and explore screen culture.
“Over the past 20 years, ACMI has grown from an idea to the most visited museum of screen culture in the world.” ACMI Director and CEO Katrina Sedgwick OAM commented.
Sedgwick explained that at the heart of the new ACMI is The Story of the Moving Image, a major free exhibition that takes audiences on an immersive journey into the past, present and future of the moving image. The exhibition brings to life key moments of screen history through interactive experiences including animating shadows, crafting optical toys, assembling film scenes, creating soundscapes and more. Sedgewick went on to add that ACMI’s world-leading curators, exhibition designers and innovators have created an experience that blends physical and digital in ways not seen before in Australia. A unique handheld device – the Lens – allows visitors to “collect” objects of interest as they move through the museum.
Sedgewick said that ACMI’s new learning labs – the Gandel Digital Future Labs – are set to inspire Victorian students and will help shape future generations of screen creatives. More than $1 million has been invested in moving image artworks, including 15 new commissions. A major new work by Gunditjmara Keerray Woorroong artist Vicki Couzens bookends the new exhibition. The Blackmagic Design Media Preservation Lab brings into the public eye ACMI’s vital hidden work of preserving moving image material, old and new, and safeguarding it for the future.
ACMI opens to the public from 12:00pm, Thursday 11 February. For more information