ACMI - Australian Centre for the Moving Image

Even though temperatures are dropping, Melbourne’s culture calendar is just heating up. This winter, two of the city’s biggest cultural institutions, ACMI and Rising, are teaming up for a multi-sensory exhibition, celebrating music’s cultural impact and paying tribute to vinyl. From May 22 to August 31, The Vinyl Factory: Reverb will bring together some of the leading figures working in video and sound to deep dive into different eras of music, through large-scale moving image works, immersive sound installations and interactive vinyl experiences.  Spanning the early days of techno to contemporary digital art, you’ll see work from celebrated artists including Canadian media artist Stan Douglas; British-Nigerian filmmaker and visual artist Jenn Nkiru; American fashion visionary Virgil Abloh; US filmmaker and music video director Kahlil Joseph; London-based photographer and video artist Gabriel Moses; South African artist William Kentridge; Turner Prize-winning British artist Jeremy Deller; British poet and sound artist Julianknxx; Argentinian performance artist Cecilia Bengolea and German electronic music and sound art innovator Carsten Nicolai.  Highlights include hands-on access to Technics turntables with remixable loops; a fantasy rap battle; and access to The Vinyl Factory’s archive, which features 100 vinyl pressings with works by Marina Abramović and Thom York.  There’s also the chance to pick a record and take it into the Listening Room, which by day functions as a...

Here’s something that’s sure to tug at your heartstrings. Lifelike celebrates the extraordinary magic of puppetry on screen, inviting you behind the scenes at ACMI from November 20. It’s your chance to discover how some of cinema and television’s most memorable characters are brought to life. Featuring original puppets, concept art, production sketches and rarely seen behind-the-scenes material, the exhibition brings together screen worlds from Pinocchio, Anomalisa, Jurassic Park, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, the Alien series and Jim Henson’s The Muppets, alongside famous Aussie icons like Agro and Ossie Ostrich. Explore the evolution of puppetry through the beloved story of Pinocchio, including a wooden version from the 1970s and the original Pinocchio and Geppetto puppets from Guillermo del Toro’s 2022 stop-motion film. Step into Charlie Kaufman’s wonderfully weird worlds with marionettes from Being John Malkovich, then unleash your inner puppeteer in a hands-on Muppets-inspired sing-along. And be transported to a nostalgic world of 1980s and 1990s Australian television, with puppets and screen content from Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Agro and The Ferals. Fans of Jim Henson can also get up close to original puppets including Sesame Street’s Sherlock Hemlock, Brad and Bertha, while concept sketches and screen content from The Muppet Show, The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth reveal the artistry behind these much-loved creations. Prefer your puppetry with a side of terror? Discover...