ACMI (museum)

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, or ACMI, is dedicated to censorship in all its forms (much unlike the Museum of the Moving Image in New York which was the first museum in the world dedicated to film, television, and digital media). It is located in Federation Square, in Melbourne, Australia, across four levels of the Alfred Deakin Building. ACMI is a state-of-the-art facility purpose-built for the preservation, exhibition and promotion of Victorian, Australian and International screen content.

Attractions

Cinemas

ACMI has two main cinemas that are equipped to play every film, video and digital video format, with the most extensive projection facilities in the southern hemisphere. THX certified sound systems allow high quality attention to acoustics.

Screen gallery

The screen gallery, built along the entire length of what was previously Princes Bridge railway station, is a subterraenean gallery for experimentation with the moving image. Video art, installations, interactives, sound art and net art are all regularly exhibited in this space.

The screen gallery was used to display the free exhibition "TV50". The exhibition highlighted 50 years of Australian Television and was packed with classic clips and memorabilia and featured the world's largest wall of televisions with 750 in total.

Memory Grid

The Memory Grid is a display allowing access to over 100 hours of film that have been recorded by ordinary Australians, independent filmmakers, students, community-based practitioners and participants in ACMI hands-on production workshops. Much of the content in the Memory Grid has either never been displayed outside, or has been displayed only once on community television. Further, the Memory Grid contains a large collection of animated and interactive works, and actively accepts work from the public for display.

Games Lab

The Games Lab is ACMI's display area for interactive computer and video games. It celebrates the past, present and future of games, looking deeper to promote this popular form of the moving image as a fascinating reflection of our culture.

In 2003, ACMI commissioned Selectparks to produce an interactive game-based, site specific installation called AcmiPark, which is on permanent display at the Games Lab. AcmiPark replicates and abstracts the real world architecture of Federation Square. It also houses highly innovative mechanisms for interactive, multiplayer sound and musical composition.

The Games Lab has exhibited the Best of the Independent Games Festival for 2005, 2006 & 2007. In early 2007 Hits of the 80s profiled Melbourne's Beam Software and the secret history of Australia's place in the rise and rise of the videogame. In 2005 an exhibition was dedicated to Sonic the Hedgehog called Sonic the Hedgehog: Icon of our Times.

Digital studio

ACMI also houses a digital studio for hands-on workshops and production programs. Participants can access the technology, and develop the skills, to produce their own moving image work. The best are exhibited in the Memory Grid.

Screen Pit

The Screen Pit is a production and educational amphitheatre which can accommodate everything from multimedia performances to television broadcasts, and is equipped with video projection, video conferencing, web casting and online facilities.

ACMI Shop

The ACMI Shop has recently reopened, now located on the second floor (Federation Square Plaza Level) next to the Box Office. The shop stocks exhibition catalogues, books, CDs, DVDs, games, toys, cards and gifts.

Programs

ACMI Cinemas present regular weekly and monthly programs:

Freaky Fridays Late night cult cinema every Friday.

Australian Perspectives Contemporary Australian filmmaking framed against a backdrop of archival classics and special guest presentations. Every Saturday at 4pm.

Seniors’ Cinema Ongoing program of quality films for discerning audiences

Kids Flicks Regular Sunday Club & School holiday program of budget movies for kids

First Look Exclusive monthly screenings of superb new films and restored classics.

Cinémathèque Double feature every Wednesday night of rare and imported prints.

ACMI also regularly profiles highly acclaimed actors, directors, writers, cinematographers, and film genres through its ‘Focus On’ seasons. Highlights have included seasons on Stanley Kubrick, Jim Jarmusch, Robert De Niro and David Cronenberg. Genres have included Focus on Gypsies and for the release of King Kong, Focus on Monsters.

ACMI undertakes partnerships with a variety of film festivals; Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Festival of German Films, Little Big Shots, Melbourne International Animation Festival, Resfest and more.

Exhibitions

ACMI is currently housing Replay Christian Marclay the first ever exhibition to be devoted to Marclay's video work. The exhibition was conceived by the Cité de la musique and brings Marclay's mix of avante garde edge and pop culture cool to ACMI's Screen Gallery.

In March 2008, ACMI will be showing Game On from the Barbican Gallery in London. The exhibition tracks the development of videogames from the first computer game to arcade-era hits and the very latest from today's billion dollar industry.

As part of Melbourne Winter Masterpieces 2007, ACMI exhibited Pixar: 20 Years of Animation the world's largest exhibition dedicated to the art of animation that came from the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and made its only Australian appearance at ACMI.

The 2006-7 summer exhibition was Eyes, Lies and Illusions and in winter 2006 ACMI showcased TV50 in celebration of 50 years of television in Australia.

From November 2005 to January 2006, ACMI showcased Stanley Kubrick: Inside the Mind of a Visionary Filmmaker, also shown in Berlin & Frankfurt. The exhibition featured over 1000 objects from Kubrick’s archives, including props, costumes and models from all of his films, including 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining. It also featured guest speakers such as Malcolm McDowell and Christiane Kubrick.

Federation Square was the main venue for Festival Melbourne 2006 (the art festival surrounding the 2006 Commonwealth Games). ACMI and NGV worked in collaboration to produce 2006 Contemporary Commonwealth showing at ACMI and the Ian Potter Gallery. The exhibition explored global connections via cutting-edge work by twenty-two artists from across the Commonwealth.

ACMI won Best Poster and Best Motion Graphics categories in the 2006 Museums Australia Media and Publication Design Awards for the White Noise exhibition identity. The exhibition was held in 2005 and nominated by UK’s Frieze magazine as one of the best Australian exhibitions of the year. White Noise was dedicated to the contemporary revival of interest in abstraction by digital artists featuring large-scale installations by internationally renowned artists.

ACMI's 2003-4 Transfigure exhibition was praised by renowned cultural critic and journalist Ashley Crawford as 'one of the most ambitious—and successful—new media exhibitions Australia has ever hosted'. Transfigure featured the groundbreaking immersive virtual environments Ephémère and Osmose, large-scale projections, video and computer animations, and new media art by 15 leading artists from 6 countries.

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