Honk! World premiere exhibition celebrates Untitled Goose Game

HONK! ACMI ANNOUNCES PLAYFUL WORLD PREMIERE EXHIBITION CELEBRATING MELBOURNE-MADE, GLOBAL-HIT VIDEOGAME, UNTITLED GOOSE GAME

It’s a lovely morning in the village, and you are a horrible goose.

Enter a world of comedy, chaos and calamity in Honk! Untitled Goose Exhibition, a free ACMI exhibition that dives into the making of global-hit videogame Untitled Goose Game.

Flying into ACMI from 17 September 2024 to 16 February 2025, the world premiere exhibition lands ahead of Melbourne International Games Week in October, transforming ACMI into a hub of free, family-friendly activity for the festival.

A game of stealth and slapstick about a naughty goose on the loose in an unsuspecting village, Untitled Goose Game was created by Victorian developers House House and released in 2019 to worldwide acclaim. Critics applauded its gameplay and comedy, awarding it D.I.C.E. Game of the Year and BAFTA Games Award for Best Family and Social Game in 2020.

Honk! Untitled Goose Exhibition gives audiences – be they videogame experts or the uninitiated – fresh insight into the game’s hilariously mischievous humour and development. Connecting its design to the history of slapstick, the exhibition traces the game’s enduring popularity and comedic stylings back through a century of film and television. Extensive design material, sketches and concept art, plus playable versions of the game from its early development, will be exhibited publicly for the first time. Families are encouraged to play with sound effect buttons (HONK!), and colourful, interactive displays – nothing is under glass.

The exhibition continues ACMI’s strong support for the Australian videogame sector, and particularly local developers.

ACMI Director & CEO Seb Chan said: “As a museum of screen culture, videogames are at the heart of what we do. Since ACMI’s inception we’ve been collecting and exhibiting games and bolstering their local creation. Untitled Goose Game is one of Melbourne’s most recognisable videogame exports of the past decade. We’ve been involved from playtesting its early development in the ACMI + RMIT Audience Lab, to presenting a series of live scored events in partnership with Orchestra Victoria. We’re honoured to give the goose the exhibition it deserves, revealing to audiences how it was made, and the wider cultural context it has come from. Hold onto your hats – let the fun and games begin!”

House House Co-Director Michael McMaster said: "It's a very strange privilege to see our work commemorated in a public exhibition. Though we design our games to be played by a wide audience, we never imagined that that design process might itself be made accessible within the walls of a gallery. It's been such a pleasure working with ACMI to open up our sketchbooks and hard drives and present them to the public like this — we can't imagine a better place to showcase our goose."

Minister for Creative Industries, the Hon. Colin Brooks MP said: “Whether you’re an Untitled Goose Game fan or a newcomer to the world of video games, you’ll love exploring this free and family friendly exhibition, which is a unique celebration of a local game that went on to conquer the world. Digital games are a big business for our state and we are proud to back our digital games industry as it continues to break new ground and bring incredible new games to audiences across the globe.”

ACMI, the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) and Powerhouse Museum announced the joint acquisition of Untitled Goose Game in 2022, preserving the iconic game for generations to come.

Honk! Untitled Goose Exhibition follows ACMI’s monster outdoor event Cult of the Lamb: The Ritual in Fed Square as part of Melbourne International Games Week in 2023, which celebrated the globally successful, Melbourne-made game. It builds on the international success of ACMI’s Code Breakers, the first Australian exhibition celebrating the achievements of women working in the games industry and sets the scene for a major new ACMI-curated exhibition in 2025 centred on the playable worlds of videogames.

Honk! Untitled Goose Exhibition is free and unticketed, running 17 September 2024 – 16 February 2025 in ACMI’s Gallery 3, before touring nationally and internationally. 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

• Images, GIFs and video files are available to download here.
• For further media enquiries please contact Stephanie.payne@acmi.net.au.

Honk! Untitled Goose Exhibition
17 September 2024 – 16 February 2025
Gallery 3, ACMI, Fed Square, Melbourne
FREE
acmi.net.au

ABOUT ACMI
ACMI is your museum of screen culture. Watch, play, make and discover the universe of screen-based art, films, TV and videogames. Visit us in Melbourne’s Fed Square, online and on tour. Our museum attracts millions of visitors through a vibrant offer of exhibitions, screenings, commissions and festivals. ACMI’s industry, education and creative incubator programs inspire and develop the next generation of screen creatives. We are a globally recognised hub that connects people, communities, technology and ideas to shape our futures. More at acmi.net.au.

ABOUT HOUSE HOUSE

Jake Strasser, Michael McMaster, Stuart Gillespie-Cook and Nico Disseldorp are members of House House, a videogame company based in Melbourne, Australia. They are the creators of Push Me Pull You (2016) and Untitled Goose Game (2019). Their third game, Big Walk, is currently in development.

ABOUT UNTITLED GOOSE GAME 

Untitled Goose Game is an award-winning Melbourne-made puzzle videogame released in 2019 by local developers House House. The game sold over a million copies worldwide by the end of 2019 and has gained recognition both in Australia and overseas, including composer Dan Golding’s nomination for Best Original Soundtrack at the 2020 ARIA Music Awards. It is available for PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PC and Mac.