Mordant Family VR Commission
Supporting established Australian artists who have never worked in the medium of Virtual Reality to create immersive new works.
The Mordant Family VR Commission is a three-year program worth $240,000 that supports Australian visual artists with an established gallery-based practice to experiment with and extend their craft using VR. The commission, created in partnership with Catriona Mordant AM and Professor Cav. Simon Mordant AO, the City of Melbourne and ACMI, builds on ACMI’s existing commissioning initiatives and cements ACMI as a leader in developing artists working at the forefront of digital platforms.
Tully Arnot: 'Epiphytes' (working title)
2019 recipient
The third and final recipient of the ground breaking $80,000 Mordant Family VR Commission is Tully Arnot.
Arnot’s proposed work, Epiphytes (working title) will be developed in consultation with plant scientist Professor Monica Gagliano, a pioneering researcher of plant sentience and communication. Plants will be captured in ultra HD and will exhibit natural movements that respond to the audience’s presence. The viewer will be urged to explore ways of interacting with each plant, discovering how it may respond to their touches or gestures, and in turn learning to better understand the subtle and incredibly slow movements of plants which are usually invisible to the naked eye.
Arnot will premiere his VR work in 2022 and an edition will be accessioned into ACMI’s collection.
Watch: Tully Arnot in conversation
Join curator Shelley McSpedden and Tully Arnot for a work-in-progress look at Epiphytes and learn about how the Australian artist approached creating his first virtual reality project.
Proudly supported by Catriona Mordant AM and Professor Cav. Simon Mordant AO, the City of Melbourne and ACMI
