| ACMI | |
| Coordinates: | -37.8174°N 144.9695°W |
| Established: | 2002 |
| Location: | Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia |
| Visitors: | 1,316,000 (2016)[1] |
| Director: | Sebastian Chan |
| Publictransit: | Flinders Street |
ACMI, formerly the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, is Australia's national museum of screen culture including film, television, videogames, digital culture and art.[2] ACMI was established in 2002 and is based at Federation Square in Melbourne, Victoria.
ACMI features a range of curated exhibitions as well as a permanent exhibition, The Story of the Moving Image.[3] It also provides a regular program film screenings and events, a library and online collection of film and video and an education program.
Prior to ACMI, Victoria's main film and screen organisation was the State Film Centre of Victoria, based at Treasury Theatre, which was established in 1946.[4] [5]
In the 1950s, the State Film Centre was involved in producing a number of projects for television, then a new medium in Australia. It also played a role as an archive of Australian films, such as The Sentimental Bloke (1919) and On Our Selection (1920).
During the 1960s, the State Film Centre provided advice on film treatments, production, scripts and distribution outlets to local filmmakers. In 1969, the centre assumed management of the newly constructed State Film Theatre, providing a facility for exhibiting material not screened in commercial cinemas.
In the 1970s, the centre began acquiring examples of student films as well as those made by the newly vibrant Australian film industry, such as Homesdale (1971) by Peter Weir, Stork (1971) and Alvin Purple (1973) by Tim Burstall, and The Devil's Playground (1976) by Fred Schepisi.
In 1988, the State Film Centre Education Program was set up. The program provided screenings for Victorian Certificate of Education students, based on core texts, and in-service days for their teachers.
In 1993, a Victorian state government report reaffirmed the viability of a proposal for an Australian Centre for the Moving Image. In July 1997, following an open, international and two-stage design competition, Lab Architecture Studio (based in London at the time), in association with their joint venture partners, Bates Smart architects, was announced as the winner. Federation Square was to be a new civic space, built above the Jolimont railyards, to mark the celebration of Australia's Centenary of Federation.
On 1 January 2002, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image was officially established by the Film Act 2001 (Victoria). The first stage was opened in October, with two exhibitions, Deep Space: Sensation & Immersion and Ngarinyin Pathways Dulwan, running in ACMI's Screen Gallery. A few weeks later, ACMI Cinemas officially opened.
In September 2009, the Australian Mediatheque and the Screen Worlds gallery opened.[6] The Screen Worlds exhibition was opened by Cate Blanchett, who loaned[7] her Oscar for best supporting actress for her part as Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator. Screen Worlds: The Story of Film, Television and Digital Culture is a free and permanent exhibition space constructed to educate the public about the moving image, a museum about moving pictures. The Mediatheque is a partnership with the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), which provides a space with 12 viewing booths where people can drop in and watch films, television clips, and new media and artworks from the NFSA and ACMI collections.
In May 2019, ACMI closed to the public to begin a $40 million redevelopment.[8] It reopened to the public in February 2021 with a new permanent exhibition The Story of the Moving Image.[9]
ACMI partnered with Melbourne architectural firm BKK Architects, who redesigned the museum's functional layout and public spaces.[10] Experience design firm Publicis Sapient/Second Story designed ACMI's centrepiece exhibition The Story of the Moving Image, the Gandel Digital Future Labs[11] and the Blackmagic Design Media Preservation Lab.[12] ACMI partnered with Melbourne chef, restaurateur, writer and television presenter Karen Martini and Michael Gebran of HospitalityM to launch its restaurant, bar and café Hero.[13]
From 1992, John J. Smithies was Director of the State Film Centre of Victoria, until its merger with Film Victoria in 1997 formed Cinemedia.[14] At Cinemedia, Smithies was deputy director, with prime responsibility for developing the Australian Centre for the Moving Image. He became the first director and CEO of ACMI in March 2002.[15] He was responsible for opening the new public facilities in October 2002.[16] After a period of turmoil, with the organisation over budget,[17] Smithies left ACMI in 2004,[18] [19] and later said the facility had been forced to open while "under-funded" by the Victorian Government.[20]
Tony Sweeney was appointed director and CEO of ACMI in 2005. Before his move to Australia, he had been the deputy director of the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television (UK), and focused on developing the museum's brand profile and content strategies. He directed the museum's Imaging Frontiers masterplan re-development, which generated record visitor numbers and international critical acclaim. The museum is now seen as one of the leading international centres for culture and learning of its kind in the world.[21] At ACMI he oversaw record organisational growth, performance and visitation, and a prolonged period of sustained success and achievement.[22] Having spent ten years in the role, Sweeney resigned in order to return to his family in Britain.[23]
Katrina Sedgwick was ACMI Director and CEO from February 2015–22.[24] She moved to the new Melbourne Arts Precinct Corporation (MapCo) in March 2023.[25]
In August 2022, Seb Chan was appointed Director and CEO.[26] [27] Chan joined ACMI in 2015 as Chief Experience Officer. He is current President of the Australian Museums and Galleries Association.
ACMI's 1,600sqm centrepiece exhibition explores the past, present and future of film, television, videogames and art, and features over 900 objects from around Australia and the world.[28]
The Story of the Moving Image begins with objects and interactive experiences that showcase people, techniques and inventions that contributed to the development of motion pictures.
Costumes, characters, set and production design, storyboarding, visual effects and Foley are featured in the Moving Worlds section to illustrate the creative processes behind iconic films, TV shows and videogames.
Featuring objects and installations from Australia's screen industry, including prominent works by First Nations artists.
Games Lab features videogames from local and international independent developers and AAA publishers. The section contains twelve playable games, plus artworks and interpretive information about the history of videogames. Games Lab is presented in partnership with Melbourne-based game developer Big Ant Studios.[29]
Moving Minds encompasses factual media and information that traverses the history of newsreels, broadcast TV, documentary, war reporting and propaganda, citizen journalism and video art.
Artworks and installations by First Nations artists feature prominently throughout The Story of the Moving Image. Key works include Yanmeeyar,[30] an art installation by Gunditjmara artist Vicki Couzens that is found at the beginning and the end of the exhibition; Canopy,[31] a multi-screen installation by artist John Harvey; and the documentary My Survival as an Aboriginal by Muruwari filmmaker and activist Essie Coffey.
The Lens[32] is a handheld, take-home device that lets visitors collect artworks and objects throughout The Story of the Moving Image and other select exhibitions hosted at ACMI. Visitors can view their curated collections on the ACMI website and access additional content. The Lens was designed in collaboration with Second Story, Swinburne University’s Centre for Design Innovation and Lumicom.[28] [33]
The Lens can be used at the Constellation, a room-scale experience located at the end of The Story of the Moving Image exhibition, consisting of six interactive touchscreen tables with an interface developed by Grumpy Sailor and a data visualisation designed by OOM Creative and More Studio. The Constellation takes the items collected by visitors on their Lens devices throughout the exhibition and connects them up to hundreds of other films, TV series, artworks and videogames beyond the scope of the gallery. Each recommendation is handpicked by ACMI's staff.[34] [35] [36]
An approximation of physical film editing and digital editing on screen, Edit Line allows visitors to The Story of the Moving Image to rearrange physical storyboard blocks that each represent iconic quotes from films and television shows to trigger a clip played on a large screen. The resulting clip can be saved to the Lens and accessed online.[37] Referenced screen works include major films such as Titanic, Blade Runner, and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and television shows such as The Simpsons, The Wire, and The X-Files. An accompanying essay has been published for each work on the ACMI website.[38]
Visitors can add sound effects to scenes from Round the Twist and Li'l Elvis and the Truckstoppers using unconventional objects typically used in the practice of Foley art. Videos produced can be saved to Lens devices and accessed online.
An interactive and immersive display of digitised Australian home movies from the 1930s from the ACMI collection. Beams of light are projected from the ceiling that animate when visitors hold out their hands.
An interactive experience in the Moving Pictures section of The Story of the Moving Image where visitors use their bodies to control virtual puppets projected in front of them.
Gallery 1 now houses the permanent exhibition The Story of the Moving Image which opened in 2021 following a renovation of the gallery. Gallery 1 is built along the entire length of what was previously Princes Bridge railway station. From 2002 to 2019 Gallery 1 was used for temporary exhibitions on the moving image such as video art, installations, interactive, sound art, net art and screen related objects were all regularly exhibited in this space.[39]
Gallery 1 exhibitions 2002–19
| Exhibition | Opened | Closed | Origin | Content Partner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Space: Sensation & Immersion[40] | 26 October 2002 | 27 January 2003 | Art Gallery of New South Wales as Space Odysseys: Sensation & Immersion | ||
| Ngarinyin Pathways Dulwan[41] | 26 October 2002 | 31 August 2003 | ACMI | Pathway Project of the Ngarinyin elders | |
| Remembrance + the Moving Image Part I: Persistence of Vision | 21 March 2003 | 25 May 2003 | ACMI | ||
| Remembrance + the Moving Image Part II: Reverberation | 27 June 2003 | 31 August 2003 | ACMI | ||
| Transfigure[42] | 8 December 2003 | 9 May 2004 | ACMI | ||
| 2004 Australian Culture Now[43] | 8 June 2004 | 12 September 2004 | ACMI & National Gallery of Victoria | ||
| SenseSurround | 7 October 2004 | 7 November 2004 | ACMI | ||
| Proof[44] | 9 December 2004 | 13 February 2005 | ACMI | ||
| World Without End[45] | 14 April 2005 | 17 July 2005 | ACMI | ||
| White Noise[46] | 18 September 2005 | 23 October 2005 | ACMI | ||
| Stanley Kubrick[47] | 25 November 2005 | 29 January 2006 | ACMI | ||
| 2006 Contemporary Commonwealth [48] | 24 February 2006 | 15 May 2006 | ACMI | ||
| TV50[49] | 22 June 2006 | 1 October 2006 | ACMI | ||
| Eyes, Lies and Illusions[50] | 2 November 2006 | 11 February 2007 | Hayward Gallery | Werner Nekes Collection | |
| Centre Pompidou Video Art 1965–2005[51] | 22 March 2007 | 27 May 2007 | Centre Pompidou | ||
| Pixar: 20 Years of Animation[52] | 28 June 2007 | 14 October 2007 | Museum of Modern Art | Barbican Gallery | |
| Christian Marclay[53] | 15 November 2007 | 3 February 2008 | ACMI | ||
| Game On[54] | 6 March 2008 | 13 July 2008 | ACMI | ||
| Correspondences: Victor Erice and Abbas Kiarostami[55] | 21 August 2008 | 2 November 2008 | Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona | ||
| Setting the Scene: Film Design from Metropolis to Australia[56] | 4 December 2008 | 19 April 2009 | Deutsche Kinemathek as Moving Spaces | ||
| Len Lye[57] | 16 July 2009 | 11 October 2009 | ACMI | Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | |
| Dennis Hopper & The New Hollywood[58] | 12 November 2009 | 25 April 2010 | |||
| Tim Burton: The Exhibition[59] | 24 June 2010 | 10 October 2010 | Museum of Modern Art | ||
| Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney's Classic Fairy Tales[60] | 18 November 2010 | 26 April 2011 | New Orleans Museum of Art | Walt Disney Animation Research Library | |
| Shaun Gladwell: Stereo Sequences[61] | 1 June 2011 | 14 August 2011 | ACMI | ||
| Star Voyager: Exploring Space on Screen[62] | 22 September 2011 | 29 January 2012 | ACMI | ||
| William Kentridge: Five Themes[63] | 8 March 2012 | 27 May 2012 | San Francisco Museum of Modern Art | Norton Museum of Art | |
| Game Masters[64] | 28 June 2012 | 28 October 2012 | ACMI | ||
| Candice Breitz: The Character[65] | 6 Dec 2012 | 11 March 2013 | ACMI | ||
| Hollywood Costume[66] | 24 April 2013 | 18 August 2013 | Victoria & Albert Museum | ||
| Spectacle: The Music Video Exhibition[67] | 26 September 2013 | 23 February 2014 | Contemporary Arts Center[68] | ||
| DreamWorks Animation: The Exhibition[69] | 10 April 2014 | 5 October 2014 | ACMI | DreamWorks Animation | |
| Yang Fudong: Filmscapes[70] | 4 December 2014 | 15 March 2015 | ACMI | Yang Fudong | |
| David Bowie is[71] | 16 July 2015 | 1 November 2015 | Victoria & Albert Museum | ||
| Julian Rosefeldt: Manifesto[72] | 9 December 2015 | 13 March 2016 | ACMI | Julian Rosefeldt | |
| SCORSESE[73] | 26 May 2016 | 18 September 2016 | ACMI | Die Deutsche Kinemathek | |
| Philippe Parreno: Thenabouts[74] | 6 December 2016 | 13 March 2017 | ACMI | Philippe Parreno | |
| Wallace & Gromit and Friends: The Magic of Aardman | 29 June 2017 | 29 January 2018 | ACMI | Aardman Animations | |
| Wonderland | 5 April 2018 | 7 October 2018 | ACMI | ||
| Christian Marclay: The Clock | 23 January 2019 | 10 March 2019 | ACMI | Christian Marclay |
| The Story of the Moving Image[75] | 11 February 2021 | ACMI |
Open from 18 September 2009, Gallery 2 is a smaller, more flexible gallery than Gallery 1.
Gallery 2 exhibitions 2009–19
| Exhibition | Opened | Closed | Origin | Content Partner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best of the Independent Games Festival 2009[76] | 8 December 2009 | 14 February 2010 | ACMI | Independent Games Festival | |
| Mary and Max: The Exhibition[77] | 2 March 2010 | 6 June 2010 | ACMI | Adam Elliot | |
| Bill Viola: The Raft[78] | 7 October 2010 | 20 February 2011 | ACMI | Kaldor Public Arts Projects & Melbourne International Arts Festival | |
| Arthur and Corinne Cantrill: Light Years[79] | 8 March 2011 | 5 June 2011 | ACMI | ||
| Julian Rosefeldt: American Night[80] | 21 June 2011 | 31 July 2011 | Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea, Florence | ||
| Margaret and David: 25 Years Talking Movies[81] | 17 August 2011 | 4 December 2011 | ACMI | A collaboration with ABC. Supported by SBS. | |
| Best of the Independent Games Festival 2011[82] | 20 December 2011 | 25 March 2012 | ACMI | Independent Games Festival | |
| Best of the Independent Games Festival 2012[83] | 27 March 2012 | 8 July 2012 | ACMI | Independent Games Festival | |
| Ian Burns: In the Telling[84] | 24 July 2012 | 20 January 2013 | ACMI | Experimenta | |
| Warwick Thornton: Mother Courage[85] | 5 February 2013 | 23 June 2013 | dOCUMENTA (13) | ||
| Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing: From book to film[86] | 16 July 2013 | 19 January 2014 | ACMI | Shaun Tan, Passion Pictures Australia & Books Illustrated | |
| Angelica Mesiti The Calling[87] | 4 February 2014 | 13 July 2014 | ACMI | A collaboration with the Ian Potter Cultural Trust | |
| David Rosetzky: Gaps[88] | 5 August 2014 | 8 February 2015 | ACMI | Carriageworks | |
| War Pictures: Australians at the Cinema 1914–1918[89] | 10 March 2015 | 26 July 2015 | ACMI | National Film and Sound Archive | |
| Orry-Kelly: Dressing Hollywood[90] | 18 August 2015 | 17 January 2016 | ACMI | A collaboration with the United States Consulate | |
| Daniel Crooks: Phantom Ride[91] | 16 February 2016 | 29 May 2016 | ACMI | A collaboration with the Ian Potter Cultural Trust | |
| Del Kathryn Barton: The Nightingale and the Rose[92] | 5 June 2016 | 11 September 2016 | ACMI | Del Kathryn Barton | |
| Collisions[93] | 6 October 2016 | 15 January 2017 | ACMI | Lynette Wallworth | |
| Bombay Talkies[94] | 8 February 2017 | 2 July 2017 | ACMI | Dietze Family Trust | |
| Code Breakers: Women in Games | 25 July 2017 | 5 November 2017 | ACMI | ||
| Eija-Liisa Ahtila: Studies on the Ecology of Drama | 5 December 2017 | 25 February 2018 | ACMI | Eija-Liisa Ahtila | |
| TERROR NULLIUS | 20 March 2018 | 1 July 2018 | ACMI | Soda Jerk | |
| Cleverman: The Exhibition | 6 December 2018 | 22 April 2019 | ACMI | Co-curated with Cleverman concept creator Ryan Griffen and Cleverman production designer Jacob Nash. |
| Oskar Fischinger: Raumlichtkunst[95] | 11 February 2021 | 28 May 2023 | Centre for Visual Music | ||
| Memo Akten: Distributed Consciousness[96] | 16 June 2023 | 16 June 2024 |
Open from 18 February 2021, Gallery 3 displays commissioned artworks and smaller exhibitions.
Gallery 3 exhibitions 2021 – present
| Exhibition | Opened | Closed | Origin/Partner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gabriella Hirst: Darling Darling | 18 February 2021 | 9 June 2021 | The Ian Potter Moving Image Commission | |
| Deborah Kelly: The God of Tiny Things | 1 July | 14 November 2021 | ACMI | |
| Jason Phu: Analects of Kung Phu | 2 December 2021 | 30 January 2022 | Mordant Family Moving Image Commission for young Australian artists | |
| Kaylene Whiskey: Ngura Pukulpa – Happy Place | 21 February 2022 | 10 April 2022 | ACMI + Melbourne Art Foundation | |
| Gillian Wearing: Editing Life | 29 April 2022 | 22 May 2022 | PHOTO 2022 International Festival of Photography | |
| Tully Arnot: Epiphytes | 4 November 2022 | 27 November 2022 | Mordant Family VR Commission | |
| Out of Bounds: Exploring the Limits of Videogames | 8 December 2022 | 23 April 2023 | ACMI | |
| Two Girls From Amoonguna[97] | 9 May 2023 | 20 Aug 2023 | ACMI + Artbank Commission | |
| Angela Tiatia: The Dark Current | 5 Sep 2023 | Ian Potter Moving Image Commission |
Open from 18 February 2021, Gallery 4 hosts larger exhibitions and Melbourne Winter Masterpieces.
| Exhibition | Opened | Closed | Origin | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disney: The Magic of Animation | 13 May 2021 | 23 January 2022 | Walt Disney Animation Research Library | |
| Reko Rennie: What Do We Want? | 1 April 2022 | 1 May 2022 | ACMI | |
| Light: Works from Tate's Collection | 16 June 2022 | 13 November 2022 | Tate | |
| How I See It: Blak Art and Film | 16 December 2022 | 19 February 2023 | ACMI | |
| Goddess: Power, Glamour, Rebellion | 5 April 2023 | 1 October 2023 | ACMI | |
| Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature | 23 November 2023 | 14 April 2024 | Marshmallow Laser Feast |
Launched in October 2020, Gallery 5 is an online space for virtual exhibitions and performance, and a commissioning space for practitioners making art that interrogates Internet and digital culture.[98]
| Lu Yang: Delusional World[99] | 11 November 2020 | |||
| Matthew Griffin: content[100] | 17 December 2020 | 1 May 2021 | ||
| Ross Gibson: head_phone_film_poems[101] | 10 June 2021 | |||
| Unfinished Camp[102] | 24 September 2021 | 19 December 2021 | ||
| Laura Duffy: Spawn[103] | 1 December 2021 | 6 March 2022 | ||
| Firepit Collective: HYPER//ECHO[104] | 3 April 2022 | 1 July 2022 | ||
| Xanthe Dobbie: The Long Now[105] | 11 July 2022 | |||
| APHIDS: FAWN[106] | 11 October 2022 | |||
| Daniel Jenatsch: The Close World – The Building[107] | 18 January 2023 | |||
| Olivia Koh: Minyak Sawit Keluarga (Palm Oil Family) | 1 September 2023 | |||
| Emile Zile: We Are As Gods | 1 November 2023 |
ACMI's year-round film program celebrates local and international cinema. ACMI has two main cinemas located on Level 2 of the museum, which were the first cinemas in Australia equipped to present Digital Cinema (DCP). Today the cinemas continue to be equipped to screen analog formats including 16mm film, 35mm film, HDCAM, Digital Betacam and SP Betacam.[108] Cinema 1 seats 168 and Cinema 2 seats 390.[109]
ACMI's ongoing film programs include:
Past programs include:
ACMI profiles actors, directors, writers, cinematographers, and film genres through its retrospective seasons and screenings. Highlights have included seasons on Wong Kar-wai, Agnès Varda, Abbas Kiarostami, Dario Argento, William Klein, John Cassavetes, and Jim Henson. Genres have included Ozploitation; Zombie Horror; East German Cinema; and Monsters, Ghouls and Melancholy Misfits in conjunction with the Tim Burton exhibition.
ACMI programs events to industry, practitioners and the broader public through talks and workshops in person and online. Regular public programs include ACMI + RMIT Audience Lab,[113] Women & Non-Binary Gamers Club,[114] First Nations Film Club,[115] and workshops for families during the school holidays.
Film festivals and events hosted at ACMI's venues are a core part of ACMI's cinema programs.[116]
The ACMI Collection contains over 250,000 items including film, ephemera, objects, videogames and time-based media art. It began in 1947 as the State Film Centre collection allowing Victorians to access film for education purposes. Since becoming part of ACMI it has diversified to include all forms of the moving image. ACMI works collaboratively both nationally and internationally with organisations including the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), the Internet Archive, MoMa, Tate, Swinburne University, RMIT University, the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation, and private collectors.[117]
Many digitised items in the ACMI Collection are accessible to the public via the ACMI website[118] or ACMI Collection YouTube channel.[119]
Located at ACMI, Fed Square on Level 1, the Blackmagic Design Media Preservation Lab is a publicly visible space where ACMI's Collection team can be viewed undertaking digital preservation, digitisation and time-based media (TBM) conservation activities.[120]
The Lab is supported by Blackmagic Design, and was designed in collaboration with BKK Architects and Second Story.[121]
ACMI's education program provides schools and teachers with exhibition visits, workshops, film programs, talks, online programs, professional development opportunities, free learning resources and recorded lectures.[122]
ACMI has expanded its touring program over the past decade.[123] Beginning with Mary and Max, which toured regional Victoria,[124] ACMI then followed by showing the 2011 Best of the Independent Games Festival [125] in Sydney and Brisbane; Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing: From Book To Film[126] and War Pictures: Australians at the Cinema 1914–1918;[127] and ACMI's first original exhibition in the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series, Game Masters: The Exhibition.
Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature
How I See It: Blak Art and Film
Code Breakers: Women in Games[152]
ACMI has a strong online presence, with regular updates being made to the ACMI website and its accounts on social media platforms – Facebook,[186] Instagram,[187] LinkedIn[188] and Twitter.[189]
ACMI's main YouTube channel publishes recorded talks, interviews with artists, season trailers, screen culture essays and behind-the-scenes videos.[190]
The ACMI Collection channel provides access to digitised works such as home videos, promotional and educational films, and stories from original analogue formats, including film or tape.[191]
The ACMI Education channel publishes explainer videos, educational resources and films produced by students.[192]
ACMI's on-demand rental platform features new release films, classics and revivals curated by ACMI's programmers.[193]
Launched in October 2020, Gallery 5 is an online space for virtual exhibitions and performance, and a commissioning space for practitioners making art that interrogates Internet and digital culture. Commissioned artists include Lu Yang, Matthew Griffin, Ross Gibson, Jazz Money, Moorina Bonini, Kalanjay Dhir, Laura Duffy, Firepit Collective, Xanthe Dobbie, APHIDS, Daniel Jenatsch, Oliviah Koh and Emile Zile.[194]
ACMI publishes essays, interviews, recorded talks, behind-the-scenes videos, topical articles and recommendations related to film, television, videogames and digital art on its website. Content is produced by ACMI staff and external writers.[195]
An abridged online version of ACMI's centrepiece exhibition, The Story of the Moving Image, was launched in October 2020.The Story of the Moving Image Online is presented in six parts: Australian Television, Australian Film, Videogames, Blak Women on Screen, Social Video and Digital Art.[196] [197]
ACMI's gift shop stocks books, curios, gifts, ACMI publications and merchandise related to screen culture. The shop collaborates with local artists to produce exclusive ranges and sustainably sourced products, and stocks exclusive merchandise designed by ACMI's in-house design team.[201]
Located in Fed Square, ACMI's restaurant, bar and café Hero featured a menu developed by Melbourne chef, restaurateur, writer and television presenter Karen Martini. Hero's menu was described as "European-focused", "seasonal" and "uncomplicated cooking packed with flavour that celebrates local Victorian produce".
Hero was designed by Melbourne-based architecture and interior design studio Chris Connell Design, drawing on aesthetic inspiration from the 1967 film PlayTime by French filmmaker Jacques Tati.[202] Hero was operated by HospitalityM, a venture founded by Michael Gebran.
Hero closed in October 2023.[203]
The ACMI X Industry Residency program provides an office space, resources and networking opportunities for Melbourne-based creative practitioners, startups and businesses working across film, TV, videogames and art.[204]
ACMI X is located on Level 2 at ACMI, Fed Square, and was previously located in Southbank, Melbourne.
ACMI, in conjunction with the Australia Council's national Cultural Digital Program, runs a mentoring initiative for strategic technology and digital mentoring for CEOs and Directors of cultural organisations. The program is supported by the Ian Potter Foundation.[205]
ACMI and RMIT invites game developers, filmmakers, moving image artists, technologists and individual creators to show their products and works at ACMI and gather audience feedback. Previous projects tested out at past Audience Labs include Untitled Goose Game and The Gardens Between.[206]
The ACMI + RMIT Games Prize is awarded to a graduating student from the RMIT Bachelor of Design (Games) for a work exploring the artistic potential of the medium.[207]
ACMI's partnership with Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio (MESS) saw four artists commissioned to create immersive, experimental and atmospheric sound compositions for ACMI's cinema trailers. The commissioned artists were Chiara Kickdrum, Sara Retallick, Sabine Brix and Tyler Wilay.[208]
Foundry658 was an initiative of the Victorian Government’s Creative State strategy delivered by ACMI and State Library Victoria. Foundry658 supported independent artists, small arts organisations, not-for-profits, commercial creative enterprises, early-stage entrepreneurs and creative industries practitioners to transform their ideas into sustainable businesses.[209]
Launched in 2018 in partnership with LaunchVic, ACMI X offered a business accelerator program that gave creative technology practitioners access to ACMI’s audience to test, refine and promote their ideas, and to showcase outcomes to industry, investor and international audiences.[210]
Australian Institute of Architects’ 2021 Victorian Architecture Awards
Melbourne Design Awards 2021
Good Design Awards 2021
Idea Awards 2021
Victorian Lighting Award
Victorian Premier Award 2021
MAGNA (Museums & Galleries Awards)
Good Design Awards 2021
SEGD Global Design Awards 2022
MAPDA (Museums & Galleries Awards)
Creative Review Magazine
Design Week (UK)
Monotype Type Champions 2020
Brand New Awards
Taiwan International Graphic Design Awards 2021
MAPDA (Museums & Galleries Awards)[224]
INDE.Awards 2021
The Australian Interior Design Awards 2021
Dulux Colour Awards 2021
Eat Drink Design Awards 2021
Idea Awards 2021
Melbourne Awards 2021
Good Food Guide Victoria 2022
Open from 18 September 2009,[231] Screen Worlds was an evolving permanent exhibition exploring all aspects of the moving image using objects, footage and artistic installations. Screen Worlds explored the story of the moving image through a number of different sections – Emergence, Voices, Sensation, Games Lab and Kids Space.[232]
The Screen Worlds exhibition hosted a number of 'Immersive Experiences'(interactive displays), including Timeslice (inspired by The Matrix), Ty the Tasmanian Tiger Zoetrope, The Faulty Fandangle (created by Oscar®-nominated Anthony Lucas), an installation by Anthony McCall, and many more.
Screen Worlds closed on [233] April 22, 2019 to allow for redevelopment.
The Video Garden was an outdoor gallery that led people from the Flinders Street side of the building to the main entrance. Exhibitions included Random Encounters, Gooey by the Lycette Bros,[234] and Blast Off.
The Memory Grid was a display allowing access to over 100 hours of film that were 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 had either never been displayed outside, or had been displayed only once on community television. Further, the Memory Grid contained a large collection of animated and interactive works, and actively accepted work from the public for display.
Australian Mediatheque,[235] coordinated by ACMI and the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) was a multiple screen station with access to works from ACMI and the NFSA. Admission was free. The Australian Mediatheque closed permanently in September 2017.
Screen It was an annual filmmaking competition for primary and secondary school students, hosted by ACMI. Screen It had 6 categories: Primary Live Action, Primary Animation, Primary Videogame, Secondary Live Action, Secondary Animation and Secondary Videogame. Each year there was a theme; past themes included Change (2015) and Reflection (2014). At the end of the year, there was a Red Carpet Awards Gala for the finalists in which they announced winners and the next year's theme. The competition was cancelled after 2019's event, with ACMI citing a "[transformation] into a brand new global museum".[236]
The Games Lab was ACMI's display area for interactive videogames. It celebrated the past, present and future of games and promoted this popular form of the moving image as a reflection of Australian culture.
In 2003, ACMI commissioned an interactive game-based, site specific installation called acmipark,[237] which was exhibited in the Games Lab. acmipark replicated and abstracted the real world architecture of Federation Square. It also housed highly innovative mechanisms for interactive, multiplayer sound and musical composition.
The Games Lab exhibited the Best of the Independent Games Festival for 2005, 2006 and 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.
The Games Lab was incorporated into the Screen Worlds exhibition space.
