Last April, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (known to you and I as ACMI) closed its doors for a mega $40 million redevelopment. The plan was to reopen in mid-2020, but like many things this year it didn’t go as planned. Thankfully, the ACMI team has updated us on the progress with more info on what to expect when this ever-popular attraction reopens.
The new ACMI is anticipated to open in 2021 now, and is being heralded as “the most innovative and digitally transformed museums in the world”. This is thanks in most part to a new “experience operating system” which is expected to allow visitors to engage with the museum in new ways – specifically, you can engage with ACMI not just in person, but at home, on your device or in the museum itself.
ACMI director and CEO Katrina Sedgwick says: “We are launching a new brand identity and entirely new online presence, inviting people to visit our museum no matter where they are in the world. In the same way we curate and design exhibitions and programs for the physical museum, we have been developing them specifically for online across the breadth of screen culture – film, TV, videogames and art.”
You can expect a deep dive into film, TV, video games and contemporary art in a host of new ways (we’re hoping we’ll still be able to beat five-year-olds at Mario Kart). Visitors will also get what’s known as a Lens – it’s a handheld device that lets you tab and collect objects of interest as you go through the museum and then later explore on your own device when you return home.
While construction continues on the physical site, online ACMI has reopened. Check out a new multimedia exhibition that deep dives into video games, television and film, as well as a video-on-demand service and more. Check it all out on ACMI’s website.
No strict opening date has been set for ACMI yet, but stay tuned.