Australian Centre for the Moving Image
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The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, or ACMI, is the world's first museum dedicated to the moving image in all its forms (The Museum of the Moving Image in New York is only dedicated to film). 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.
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[edit] Attractions
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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 is currently being used to display the free exhibition "TV50" which highlights 50 years of Australian Television packed with classic clips and memorabilia and featuring the world's largest wall of televisions with 750 in total.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Programs
ACMI Cinemas present regular weekly and monthly programs:
- Freaky Fridays Late night cult cinema every Friday.
- Great Australian Cinema Aussie classics every Saturday at 2pm.
- Seniors’ Cinema Ongoing program of quality films for discerning audiences
- Kids Flicks Regular Sunday Club & School holiday program of budget movies for kids
- Film Bubs Special Tuesday morning session with more light, especially for parents with babies.
- Cinémathèque Double feature every Wednesday night of rare and imported prints.
- Popcorn Taxi Regular program of independent film and video screenings including special previews and meet the filmmakers.
- Melbourne Filmoteca Monthly program of Latin American film.
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, Melbourne Latin American Film Festival, Little Big Shots, Melbourne International Animation Festival, Resfest and more.
[edit] Exhibitions
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.
