Happy 1st Birthday Screen Worlds

Screen Worlds: what have you discovered?

Creating an exhibition that covers the entire history of film, television and digital culture… an impossible task? ACMI Director Tony Sweeney shares his thoughts on building this moving image wonderland:

“When we first decided to create a gallery surveying the whole field of the moving image – its rich history, its creators and creative processes, and an exploration of the experience of the moving image – it felt a bit like a jump into the unknown. This is a huge, varied and constantly changing field that had never been tackled in a gallery context anywhere in the world before (though histories of cinema do exist). Many said it wouldn’t be possible to adequately reflect the vibrant and ubiquitous nature of film, TV, videogames and digital media in our lives.

“Now, a year after opening, seeing the results of the inspiration, expertise and hard work of the many people involved in creating Screen Worlds is a real thrill. Visitors of all ages and interests have flocked to the gallery and given it rave reviews. But the real joy is to walk into the gallery and witness the delight and interest on people’s faces as they recall a screen memory from the past, or start seeing something new in what they watch every day. Ultimately, that’s what this gallery is about – giving people a fresh perspective and sense of delight in screen culture and its creative processes – and why it is being credited worldwide as truly ground-breaking.”
Tony Sweeney
Director and CEO

The enormous scale, depth and technical intricacies in Screen Worlds required a mammoth effort from staff across all of ACMI, in order to get it ‘just right’:

“Screen Worlds is rumoured to contain over 220 monitors, screens and projections along with I don’t know how many interactive and computer-based works. Try and count them! As if that weren’t enough to keep us busy, we tempted fate by including a work called The Faulty Fandangle, an animated short film combined with very delicate animatronics. While this big box looks like it could have been made by W. Heath Robinson, it’s actually all by award-winning Australian filmmaker Anthony Lucas.

“Of course, true to its name, The Faulty Fandangle seems to have 220 ways to go wrong and we’ve spent many hours with Anthony tweaking it, nursing it along and keeping it a little less faulty. By now, some of our technicians are official Fandangle experts. But what a thing of rare beauty it really is. For me it is among the best of what ACMI can offer – a uniquely commissioned, innovative moving image work by a highly talented local artist you just couldn’t see anywhere else in the world. It really works!”
Chris Harris
Exhibitions Manager

“The IT staff remember the day that Screen Worlds opened vividly as the entire team were here until 2am. Some of the Audio Visual team did not see their bed at all. Various specialist technical teams across ACMI had spent months fighting electrical interference from the trains that run under the building, locating corresponding ends of the same cable, dealing with suppliers who sometimes didn’t supply and smoothing out the rough bits in cutting edge software. We always seemed to be six pixels from Nirvana.”
Paul Cuthbert
ICT Manager

Anyone who witnessed the launch of Screen Worlds will remember that it opened with a bang! There were celebrities, politicians, paparazzi, an official smoking ceremony and a general buzz of excitement. And, of course, there was ‘that’ dress:

“The flashbulbs went crazy along the red carpet when Cate Blanchett arrived at the opening of Screen Worlds. It’s one of those moments you never forget. Dressed in a hand-knitted dress by Romance Was Born and shielded with a black brollie, Cate looked positively Melbourne-chic. By the afternoon, her dress had hit headlines around the world and she had been dubbed ‘Cate Blankett’. The designer Luke Sales (known for his love of kitsch) said Cate’s dress harked back to the days of old home-knitted staples. The dress went on to grace catwalks around the world and feature in publications such as Grazia magazine in Bulgaria, The Guardian in London and even the front page of the Spotlight catalogue here in Australia.”
Claire Butler
Communications Coordinator

Cate Blanchett is accompanied into Screen Worlds by Premier John Brumby

You could probably spend weeks in Screen Worlds and still not see everything. Some of the most popular sections feature detailed and personal interviews with leading moving image practitioners:

“One of my favourite places in Screen Worlds is the ‘Dreaming in Colour’ section. The exhibition has Indigenous content throughout, but this section is a specific story devoted to the history of Indigenous representation on the screen. It explores the arc from early colonial misrepresentation to the empowerment of self representation and with it the subsequent explosion of a significant and internationally acclaimed Indigenous screen practice. ‘Dreaming in Colour’ was curated and produced by Indigenous artists, researchers and curators. My favourite part is the beautiful and intimate interviews with filmmakers speaking about their lives and their practice.”
Gael McIndoe
Head of Public Programs

“Every month I discover something new, a little artefact or an object I’d previously never noticed. It’s a terrific place to pop into when you have a few minutes, but it does require a little courage and determination to mine the material and find the real gems! I always keep returning to the Spotlight interviews. For an aspiring filmmaker, or anyone interested in how artists find their particular voice through cinema, I’d recommend heading straight to the ‘Voices’ section. Pull yourself away from the shiny Mad Max car, turn the corner and listen to Christopher Doyle talk about learning film from life, or Warwick Thornton and Ivan Sen talking about film as an extension of oral storytelling traditions.”
Andrew Serong
Visitor Services Officer

The Voices section of Screen Worlds focuses on local Australian talent, such as this spotlight on the work of the Bazmark team

Our wonderful team of visitor services officers, education programmers, volunteers and front-of-house staff probably know Screen Worlds better than anyone! They are the friendly faces that greet you on arrival and since they experience visitors’ reactions first-hand, they are often the best judges of an exhibition’s success:

“The Screen Education staff really know that Screen Worlds has been a great success because of how hard it is to move students through the space during a formal tour! They are always captivated by Georges Méliès, videogame history and the Interactive Locations Map. ‘Sensation’ is a highlight and the zoetrope never fails to impress.”
Susan Bye
Education Programmer

“From a personal perspective, I think it is a testament to the depth and quality of the exhibition content that I continue to find intellectual interest during my time in the space, that I continue to make new connections between different elements and I can still find new things to notice and think about. It really does bear up to repeat visits!”
Alison Bennett
Visitor Services Officer

Everyone seems to have their own favourite piece in Screen Worlds, but there are some that you never get tired of, no matter how many times you see them:

“One of the most satisfying aspects of Screen Worlds for me is watching the expressions on people’s faces when they discover our Ty the Tasmanian Tiger (TM) zoetrope for the first time. While the zoetrope was a tour de force to produce involving a team of creative and technical specialists, it is actually a very simple illusion which creates the magical experience of animation in three dimensions. I often find myself watching the zoetrope whilst I am taking visitors around the exhibition and it never ceases to amaze me how this exhibit can create a profound emotional effect on visitors of all ages. If you are visiting ACMI drop into Screen Worlds and  take a look – it is located in the ‘Sensation’ section towards the end of the exhibition.”
Conrad Bodman
Head of Exhibitions

The amazing zoetrope lives in the Sensation section of Screen Worlds

And even the professionals can’t resist certain highlights:

“The ‘Timeslice’ was a hit at the red carpet opening and is still a hit with visitors to this day. Decorated in the ‘code rain’ featured in the Matrix films, the ‘Timeslice’ allows you to replicate their iconic ‘bullet time’ sequences (although many folk choose to dance their way though it). At the opening there was a media frenzy, but when things calmed down and the media headed back to their desks, we caught Hugo Weaving having a go: Agent Smith replicating his own scene!”
Claire Butler
Communications Coordinator

Although sometimes, people can be a little too enthusiastic:

“My most memorable moment of working in Screen Worlds was when I heard a loud bang coming from the ‘Timeslice’. I immediately rushed over to see what it was when I realised that a young girl was twirling nunchucks that she had deliberately brought in to get the perfect video. Her excitement quickly disappeared when I threatened to call security – sorry :( ”
Virginia Lang
Visitor Services Officer

Hugo Weaving (aka Agent Smith) in front of the 'Timeslice'

Yet it certainly doesn’t need to be high technology and special effects aren’t the only things that captivate people. Some of the most popular parts of Screen Worlds are enduring classics of Australian culture:

“The Celtic blood and the rock ‘n’ roll soul are always evoked by the Interactive Locations Map in ‘Voices’. Every time I walk past that map of Australia it seems to be screening the famous clip of Acca Dacca’s ‘It’s a Long Way to the Top’, filmed on the back of a truck in Melbourne, with Bon Scott’s lead break on the bagpipes thumping out for all to hear – I love it!”
Gael McIndoe
Head of Public Programs

“My favourite items are TV clips – there is so much nostalgia there. I belly laugh when I see Magda Szubanski and Marg Downey sketching it up on Fast Forward, and get a little sentimental when I remember watching Scott and Charlene wed on Neighbours.”
Claire Butler
Communications Coordinator

The interactive Locations table shows you where your favourite Australian films were shot.

But we might leave the final word to an enthusiastic young art-lover with excellent taste:

“A comment by a child to his father whilst watching Anthony McCall’s artwork You and I, Horizontal (III) (2006): ‘This is better than Hollywood on the Gold Coast!’ ”
Alison Bennett
Visitor Services Officer

We couldn’t have said it better ourselves! Happy Birthday Screen Worlds! Hip hip hooray!!

Now, where is the cake?

And what do you think? Do you have a favourite film, artwork, object or game in Screen Worlds? Surprise discoveries? Forgotten treasures? Inspirational makers? Why is the moving image important to you? Also stay tuned to this blog for a special Screen Worlds competition we have coming up.