If you have fond memories of falling down the rabbit hole with Alice in the 1951 Disney animation or venturing into Tim Burton’s dark Wonderland in his 2010 live action film, then we’ve got good news: Alice is coming to ACMI next year. The Australian Centre for the Moving Image has announced Wonderland (Apr 5-Oct 7) – a highly immersive and experimental exhibition developed by ACMI as its 2018 Winter Masterpieces offering.
Wonderland will trace the legacy of Lewis Carroll’s story (written in 1865) through its many film iterations (40 of them, to be exact). The exhibition will begin with the earliest moving image adaptations of Carroll’s three Alice stories, and move chronologically through each major work. The result will be an exploration of the evolution of film, as Alice graduates from silent film into animation, live-action cinema, CGI, 3D and video games. Audiences will also discover the influence of the story on fashion, music videos and advertising.
Here’s where it gets curiouser and curiouser: ACMI is working with some of the country’s most cutting-edge artists and designers to make Wonderland an interactive and immersive experience. While they’re not giving too much away at this stage, you can be sure that with collaborators like creative studios Sandpit and Grumpy Sailor (who collaborated on a VR work at ACMI last year), there’ll be plenty of surprises along the way. Theatrical elements will also come into play, as will activities for children.
Wonderland will open on Thursday April 5 and run until October. Tickets go on sale on Thursday November 30.