Between the Details: Video Art from the ACMI Collection

Kaylene Whiskey, Ngura Pukulpa – Happy Place, 2021. Courtesy Kaylene Whiskey and Iwantja Arts. Photo: Max Mackinnon

Showcasing six moving image artworks by Australian artists, this exhibition celebrates ACMI’s vibrant collecting and commissioning program.

Working in video offers artists the opportunity to use editing as their primary technique; mixing and matching elements from other films or their own work to tell new stories. By remixing or rearranging footage they build different rhythms and moods, create hilarious juxtapositions or shed new light on cultural cliches and presumed histories. The works in this exhibition all demonstrate an irrepressible desire to bring deep themes to the surface with humour and an incredible attention to detail.

ACMI’s collection has a rich, 75-year history from its inception as the State Film Centre in 1946. Since its incarnation as ACMI in the early 2000s, the collection has expanded to include artworks and experimental film. ACMI now holds a significant archive of complex, time-based media works and videogames, as well as an ever-expanding repository of digitised content and born-digital material.

Artists: Kaylene Whiskey, Jason Phu, Deborah Kelly, Zanny Begg, David Rosetzky and Christian Thompson.

This is an ACMI touring exhibition.

Exhibition launch

Join us for the launch of Between the Details.

With a live performance by artist Dr Christian Thompson AO and introduction by Fiona Trigg, ACMI Senior Curator.

Light refreshments will be served.

• Date: Thursday 27 March
• Time: 6pm to 8pm
• Venue: ArtSpace at Realm, 179 Maroondah Highway, Ringwood
• Cost: Free  

Come along from 5pm to view Christian Thompson's virtual reality 360 video work Bayi Gardiya (Singing Dessert), 2019. Please note the video goes for a duration of 5 minutes with access for two people at a time.

Register for exhibition launch

About Dr Christian Thompson AO

Photo: Dr Christian Thompson AO: Phoenix Central Park + Brontë Godden

Together with the virtual reality 360 video experience of his Between the Details exhibition work Bayi Gardiya (Singing Dessert), 2019, Christian Thompson will present a rare live performance of Recital in Bidjara, his traditional language. Now considered to be an extinct language, Thompson’s act of live performance re-affirms it as a living one. Coupled with the immersive VR experience which situates the visitor in the centre of The Sixth Mile, Barcaldine, western Queensland, the swimming hole where the artist’s family have swum for generations, Recital will deliver a live experience of language and song that powerfully connects past and present. 

Book a Virtual Reality 360 Video Experience

Christian Thompson, Bayi Gardiya (Singing Desert), 2019

Join in the free immersive virtual reality 360 video and sound experience of Bidjara artist Christian Thomson’s, Bayi Gardiya (Singing Desert), 2019. This ground breaking artwork situates the viewer in the creek bed of The Sixth Mile, Barcaldine, western Queensland.

Viewers experience how the parched landscape regenerates under the shifting light of the day, from warm morning sun to a starlit sky. These transitions also shift through seasonal change to represent and also comment on the impacts of Global Warming on the fragile, semi-desert Hinterland and country represented in the work. The soundtrack comprises Thompson’s voice, singing in Bidjara, his traditional language.

Register for a 15 minute slot between 11am to 3pm to view the work on the following days:

• Tuesday 25 March
• Tuesday 1 April
• Tuesday 8 April
• Tuesday 15 April
• Saturday 26 April
• Tuesday 29 April
• Saturday 10 May
• Tuesday 13 May

Register online

Further information

For more information on the exhibition please contact Council on 1300 88 22 33. 

When

Location

ArtSpace at Realm, 179 Maroondah Highway, Ringwood, 3134, View map