For the first time in its 167-year history, the South Australian Museum will open up its North Terrace exhibition space for 48 continuous hours as part of the 2024 Adelaide Festival.
From 5pm Friday 8 March to 5pm Sunday 10 March, festivalgoers will be able to experience an immersive tribute to the World Heritage-listed Daintree tropical rainforest at all hours of the day and night in a special final week showing of the Museum's summer exhibition GONDWANA VR: The Exhibition.
The Museum will also host a rolling program of free and ticketed family-friendly events across the 48-hour-weekend, from meditation and yoga sessions to film screenings, hands-on paint and sip workshops, and floor talks from speakers including GONDWANA VR filmmaker Ben Joseph Andrews, and South Australia's Chief Public Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier.
Inspired by the 180-milllion-year-old Daintree and Wet Tropics, GONDWANA VR features an open-play virtual rainforest that condenses a century of change into a daily cycle from 1990 to 2090 informed by climate data projections and how audiences engage with the forest. No two cycles are the same, putting the fate of the forest in our hands.
Visitors can slip on a VR headset or explore a multi-sensory installation that expands the rainforest beyond the goggles through projection, lighting, cinematic sound, and objects from the Museum's historic Natural Science collections.
Created by Andrews and Emma Roberts, the award-winning GONDWANA VR has previously screened at SXSW, Sundance Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival and CPH:DOX in Copenhagen before premiering at the South Australian Museum in December.
For more information visit samuseum.sa.gov.au
Images of artworks and artists available here
As put by Andrea Michaels
The long weekend is a fantastic opportunity to visit the Museum and experience this incredible exhibition.
For the first time ever, the Museum will be open continuously for 48 hours for an exciting program of events including the remarkable GONDWANA VR as part of the Adelaide Festival.
This event shows what the Museum can offer by thinking outside the box and embracing new technologies and experiences while sharing important conversations about art, science, and conservation.
As put by Dr David Gaimster, CEO, South Australian Museum
While Adelaide's famous Mad March brings a fast and furious mix of culture to the city, GONDWANA VR: The Exhibition will offer a meditative oasis that brings the beauty and fragility of our natural world into vivid relief.
We are thrilled to partner with Adelaide Festival to share the full scope of Ben and Emma's vision for GONDWANA VR with a festival season audience.
