Australian Centre for the Moving Image

William Kentridge at exhibition opening at ACMI in Melbourne, Australia

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, or ACMI, is dedicated to the moving image in all its forms. 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 [edit]

Cinemas [edit]

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.

Programs [edit]

ACMI Cinemas present regular weekly and monthly programs:

• 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.
• Live in the Studio The last Thursday of every month there is a discussion, talk or presentation about television.
• Desert Island Flicks A regular monthly event where celebrities reveal the top five films they would pack if they were banished to a desert island.

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.

Screen Worlds [edit]

Open from 18 September 2009, Screen Worlds is a permanent exhibition exploring all aspects of the moving image using objects, footage and artistic installations. Screen Worlds explores the story of the moving image through a number of different sections - Emergence, Voices, Sensation, Games Lab and Kids Space.

The Screen Worlds exhibition hosts 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 (The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello)), an installation by Anthony McCall and many more.

Gallery 1 [edit]

The screen gallery, renamed Gallery 1 when Gallery 2 was introduced in 2009, was built along the entire length of what was previously Princes Bridge railway station. It is a subterranean gallery for experimentation with the moving image. Video art, installations, interactives, sound art, net art and screen related objects are all regularly exhibited in this space.

Gallery 1 Exhibitions [edit]

With the exception of a dance work that formed part of the Melbourne International Arts Festival (Plasticine Park), Gallery 1 is usually either hosting an exhibition, or installing the next one. The exhibitions alternate between in house and touring, and between free and ticketed.

2013 exhibitions include "Candice Breitz: The Character" and "Hollywood Costume".

Gallery 2 [edit]

Open from 18 September 2009, Gallery 2 is a smaller, more flexible gallery than Gallery 1.

Australian Mediatheque [edit]

Australian Mediatheque is a space with multiple screening stations with access to works from ACMI and the National Film and Sound Archive.

Studio 1 [edit]

Studio 1 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.

Studio 2 [edit]

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.

ACMI Store [edit]

The ACMI Store, located on the entry level next to the Tickets & Information Desk, stocks exhibition catalogues, books, DVDs, toys, cards and gifts.

Panorama of Federation Square

Former attractions [edit]

Video Garden [edit]

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, I Fell Off My Bike and Blast Off.

Memory Grid [edit]

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.

Games Lab [edit]

The Games Lab was ACMI's display area for interactive video games. It celebrated 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 was exhibited in 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 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 video game. In 2005 an exhibition was dedicated to Sonic the Hedgehog called Sonic the Hedgehog: Icon of our Times.

The Games Lab has now been incorporated into the Screen Worlds exhibition space.

Online [edit]

ACMI has a strong online presence, with regular updates being made to the ACMI website and a dedicated blog. Videos and podcasts are regularly added to the website. ACMI also has a number of 'Online Projects'.

Online Projects [edit]

Along with regularly added content on ACMI's main website, ACMI hosts a number of special online projects that encourage user-generated content. These sites include 15 Second Place, Generator and the Educators Lounge.

Notes [edit]

References [edit]

"What's On Aug-Sep 2009", ACMI, 2009

External links [edit]

• Official ACMI website
• ACMI on iTunes
• ACMI Cinema Archive
• Australian Mediatheque
• 2006 Contemporary Commonwealth website
• ACMI on YouTube
• ACMI on Flickr
• ACMI on Facebook
• ACMI on Artabase
• Culture Victoria – video and a brief history of the ACMI

Coordinates: 37°49′03″S 144°58′07″E / 37.8176241°S 144.9685907°E / -37.8176241; 144.9685907