Immerse yourself in Works of Nature: World premiere experiential art exhibition by Marshmallow Laser Feast now open

Immerse yourself in Works of Nature: World premiere experiential art exhibition by Marshmallow Laser Feast now open

Visitors can enrich their experience with film screenings, play-based kids workshops, and an industry masterclass. Exhibition tickets from $5.

Take a sublime sensory journey at ACMI this summer with Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature. The world premiere exhibition is now open until 14 April 2024.

Featuring five artworks by London-based experiential art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF), this transcendent, immersive experience traces the hidden connections beyond our everyday perceptions – from a towering Amazonian tree to the human breath and galaxies above.

Comprised of major video works on a grand, awe-inspiring scale, guided meditation and evocative works on paper, visitors evolve from droplets of water to ancient trees, human cells and black holes, gaining a deeper understanding of the natural world and our place within it.

Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature is MLF’s first major exhibition in Australia. It includes artworks executive produced by the late Edward R. Pressman and filmmaker Terrence Malick; and collaborations featuring narration by executive producer Cate Blanchett; poetry by Daisy Lafarge; and music by Jon Hopkins, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Meredith Monk, Howard Skempton and Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood.

ACMI Director & CEO Seb Chan said: "Marshmallow Laser Feast use immersive projection technologies to powerful effect in this carefully curated exhibition – reminding us of the beauty and fragility of life on our shared planet, and the importance of collectively taking care of it. We are making the experience as accessible to as many people as possible, with tickets priced from just $5."

Marshmallow Laser Feast Partner and Director Ersin Han Ersin said: "Art has the unique power to transform the issues of our complex world into up-close, human experiences. Works of Nature draws on our interconnected relationship with nature and represents the passion we feel for its beauty and power. Our artworks are both playful investigations and scientific studies, which we hope will bring renewed wonder in our extraordinary planet, to a multitude of audiences."

Minister for Creative Industries, the Hon Colin Brooks MP said: "As both a place of incredible natural beauty, and a leader in technology, art and culture, Victoria is the perfect place for the world premiere of Marshmallow Laser Feast. This exhibition will delight audiences from across Victoria and interstate as they explore this interactive and immersive art this summer."

The five works featured in Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature are Sanctuary of the Unseen Forest, Evolver, Distortions in Spacetime, The Tides Within Us and We Live in an Ocean of Air.

The exhibition will be complemented by a suite of ACMI programs over summer, including film screenings, children’s workshops, and an industry panel discussion.

Visitors can delve deeper into the natural world at ACMI Cinemas from 2 December to 24 February, with a collection of visually striking and immersive documentaries filmed from eye-opening perspectives. Artificial Eye includes a selection of short and feature-length films highlighting extraordinary contemporary cinematography, including satellite filming, drone cameras and surgical image capture.

Soar over the world’s diverse waterways in Watermark (2013); flow through space and time in Australian documentary River (2021), directed by Jennifer Peedom and narrated by Willem Dafoe; scale the primordial mountains of Norway in Songs of Earth (2023); journey inside a human body on the operating table in De Humani Corporis Fabrica (2022); and meditate on humanity’s future in Last and First Men (2020). Short films co-curated in partnership with NOWNESS include Komorebi (2021), His Sweat (2016), The Chief (2010) and Geometry of Faith (2023).

Curious young minds can explore, play, and engage the senses at ACMI Preschoolers, a weekly, interactive exhibition session for children aged three to five years. The 30-minute movement and play-based experience led by an ACMI Early Years Education Specialist is a fun way for kids and their parents, grandparents, or carers to enjoy Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature together. Running each Friday from 12 January – 22 March, the workshop is followed by free time to explore the exhibition further.

For schools, exhibition visits are complemented by a series of environmental film screenings from 20 – 22 March including animated masterpieces Spirited Away (2001) and My Neighbor Totoro (1988), plus poetic portrait of environmentalist Bob Brown The Giants (2023). An education resource linking science art and new technologies is also available, inspiring big ideas and hopeful thinking about our futures.

A panel of globally recognised industry-leading experts will discuss the future of immersive exhibitions, in a unique masterclass for the museum sector. Join MLF Partner and Director Ersin Han Ersin, Co-Founder & Principal of The Experience Alchemists Ed Rodley and ACMI Head of Experience, Digital & Insights Lucie Paterson for the Immersive Exhibition Masterclass at ACMI on 27 November.  

Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature is on show in ACMI’s Gallery 4 from 23 November 2023 – 14 April 2024. For tickets and further details visit acmi.net.au.

Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature is proudly supported by our generous partners; Major Technology Partner Panasonic and Supporting Partner the British Council.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

• Marshmallow Laser Feast: Works of Nature open 23 November 2023 – 14 April 2024 at ACMI, Fed Square, Melbourne.
• Visit acmi.net.au to book tickets. 
• Full tickets $20; Under 35 $15; Concession, Student, ACMI Member $10; Under 16 (4 – 15) years $5; 0 – 3 years FREE; School Groups $5 per student; Blak Members FREE.
• Experience Evolver in its original Virtual Reality (VR) format with a $10 add-on to exhibition entry.
• Media kit, images and video assets available here
• Watch MLF Partner and Director Ersin Han Ersin’s TED Talk here
• Artificial Eye, 25 November 2023 – 24 February 2024. Full tickets $18; Concession $14; ACMI Member $12; Discounted multipasses available. Further information available here
• ACMI Preschoolers, Fridays at 10.15am 12 January – 22 March 2024 (excluding 26 January). Ticket includes admission for one adult and up to two children aged 3 - 5 years. Pricing and further information available here
• Further information about ACMI’s education program for schools available here.
• Immersive Exhibition Masterclass, 27 November 2023 at 6pm. Full tickets $20 with discounts for ACMI Members, AMAGA Members & Concession. Further information here.
• For further media enquiries please contact Stephanie.payne@acmi.net.au

ARTWORK DETAILS & CREDITS

Sanctuary of the Unseen Forest
This large-scale video installation of an Amazonian kapok tree embraces audiences as they enter the gallery, the work draws attention to the immensity of our natural world and puts the human body into perspective.

By Marshmallow Laser Feast
Originally commissioned by Barbican Immersive

Evolver
From the exhale of a tree to the first intake of human breath, Evolver takes visitors on a voyage through the body, following the flow of oxygen to its origin as a single living cell. Originally devised as a VR experience, the work has been reimagined for ACMI’s Gallery 4. It includes a meditation space with narration from executive producer Cate Blanchett, a visual journey of the breath, and a hypnotic sequence that connects the birth of a cell with the cosmos.

Narrated By: Cate Blanchett
Executive Producers: Edward R. Pressman & Terrence Malick
Executive Producers: Cate Blanchett, Coco Francini, Andrew Upton, Nicole Shanahan
Producers: Sam Pressman, Antoine Cayrol
Directed by Marshmallow Laser Feast
An Atlas V, Pressman Film and Marshmallow Laser Feast Production
In Association with Dirty Films
Supported by Nicole Shanahan & Bia-Echo Foundation
Made in Collaboration With Natan Sinigaglia
Key scientific collaborator: Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS

Distortions in Spacetime
After emerging from a meditative state in Evolver, visitors journey through space to the edge of a black hole. This interactive voyage between time, space and human experience harnesses the energy of the universe and explores the link between black holes, dying stars and the human body.

By Marshmallow Laser Feast
Commissioned by Manchester Science Festival, part of the Science Museum Group in partnership with The British Science Festival and University of Hull

The Tides Within Us
Six large scale static images reveal the rhythms of oxygen flowing through the branching ecosystem of the human body. The work challenges the boundaries between humans and the environment, and where the body begins and ends

By Marshmallow Laser Feast
Co-commissioned by York Mediale with Coventry City of Culture Trust
Key scientific collaborator: Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS

We Live in an Ocean of Air
The final work of the exhibition brings visitors back to earth and continues the journey of a single breath. Revealing the invisible connection between plants and people, We Live in an Ocean of Air delves into the wondrous rhythm that underpins life on earth.

By Marshmallow Laser Feast

ABOUT ACMI
ACMI is Australia’s national museum of screen culture. The museum reopened in February 2021 after a two-year, $40 million redevelopment – an architectural, programmatic and technological transformation. Navigate the universe of film, TV, videogames and art with us. ACMI celebrates the wonder and power of the world’s most democratic artform – fostering the next generation of makers, players and watchers. ACMI’s vibrant calendar of exhibitions, screenings, commissions, festivals, and industry and education programs explore the stories, technologies and artists that create our shared screen culture. More at acmi.net.au.

ABOUT MARSHMALLOW LASER FEAST
Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) are a London-based art collective led by artists and directors Robin McNicholas, Ersin Han Ersin and Barnaby Steel who work at the intersection of science, art and technology – employing a wealth of creative disciplines, from installation to kinetic sculpture, film to live performance.

MLF’s work invites participants into a sensory journey that reinterprets the idea of human perception and experiences beyond our everyday perception. MLF’s approach is one of collaboration with artists, engineers and scientists, building bespoke software and hardware systems to realise their visions.

MLF has designed and directed for the likes the critically acclaimed Saatchi Gallery debut; We Live in an Ocean of Air, and In The Eyes of the Animal, which won the Wired Innovation Award for Experience Design.  MLF’s work Evolver received the Storyscapes Special Jury Mention at Tribeca Film Festival and Treehugger, Wawona received Best VR Film at VR Arles Festival.

MLF’s work has been exhibited in the UK and internationally, including at the Saatchi Gallery, NXT Museum, Lisbon Triennial, Istanbul Design Biennial, the Sundance Film Festival, and the V&A and Design Museum, London.