Thread by @Paulrbowers

I got the preview of the new @acmi on Monday. Thanks for the invite :)
I’ve been processing my thoughts - here they are if the #museumtwitter community are interested!
*important caveat - personal take. personal.

The edit line is the best interactive I’ve ever seen; it lets you place wooden film quotes in a line, which is tracked on a huge screen with the actual clips. ‘Particular set of skills > Bond, James Bond’
(Sorry, Riverside Glasgow motorcycle wall) @acmi

Close up exquisite costumes, production sketches and other artefacts from the craft of making, with film and games rolled over each other (hi @fimjishwick and all the other curators)

Public spaces that feel generous, welcoming - lingering at charge points, TikToking the easy wifi. (Major accessibility caveats on these spaces though) The new space on the upper level, surrounded by pop culture and a conservation lab, is a living room :)

(Back in the exh now) Dinky dioramas of eras of TV, with the 1980s overflowing with VCR tapes and the 2000s with a suggestive iPad hinting at what’s to come - I love the conscious use of crafted low-tech in the design.

The words. Oh the words. It’s the best written exhibition copy I’ve seen. Every word went through one person who - TAKE NOTE - is a writer first and a museum/gallery pro second (3rd?). Every word is perfect; it’s poetic without being overwrought, clear without being dull.

Exquisite subtle design cues that’ll work for many - a red light line in the ceiling to anchor the through line that I didn’t think would work but does. (Always trust Chris!) @acmi

I’m not the person to speak of the Aboriginal content. But, to begin with a First Nations art commission and make an expansive immersive space in the middle, under autonomous curation, places First Nation storytelling in the heart of the story, where it should be @acmi

The lens. I’m still agnostic on this from a purpose/audience point of view but technically, UX, design, product all realised incredibly well. Looking forward to seeing the usage data when @acmilabs are ready to share ;)

The clear alignment of the experience with membership, website and FoH, too. It’s just seamless, and raises the bar. There’s no excuse to not do this, this well, now, Big Museums

The technology/FoH integration is better than anything I’ve ever seen. On boarding is so smooth, people and gizmos are each interharmonious and the staff easily flex to different visitors’ needs. The training in systems and content is really visible. (Hi, Russell!) @acmi

I liked many things. But, you’re wondering, what didn’t I like? Well, this is tough. I respect the art, the skills, the decisions but the curatorial approach is simply not for me. And by that I mean, it is for people like the people who love @acmi and acmi-ish stuff.

The jumbling up of time and space, of putting art front and centre, prioritises those whose means of decoding their world are primarily aesthetic and ‘emotion first’. And the object / text is design is very conservative - nothing surprised me there. Stuff + label, repeat.

But then, I did nearly cry at the tiny projections of home movies into my palm. brilliant use of archives, it felt fragile, intimate, seeing a kid racing around on a 70s trike in my hand. Maybe this shows I’m not heartful and open enough to have this experience throughout @acmi?

The area on propaganda and misinformation in (all) media, in my view the most socially urgent area to cover well, felt confusing, dense and overly abstract. This was one area where film was forced in unnecessarily - knowing there’s a doco about Snowden doesn’t help me understand

I found the balance too weighted to film. The first Screenworlds was out of date soon with respect to the iPhone. I wonder if this will be with respect to gaming and streaming, already bigger than cinema. Contentious, perhaps.

I think the people who love @acmi, who are happy with the curator-as-tastemaker, will love the stance, its surety. And I think others have a bit of fun then think ‘oh that was ok’. I didn’t see an interpretive strategy that helped ‘outsiders’ become ‘insiders’

And part of that is that there’s little of the day-to-day experience of TV in there. The weather. soaps. Marry A Hamster At First Sight On An Island Renovation didn’t feature. Which feels like a class-based decision to me, but heigh ho I’m British-born so I see class everywhere.

Stevie Smith’s poem ‘God Speaks’ has God saying to humanity about heaven -
“He cannot come by wishing
Only by being already at home here”
Those already at home at @acmi will find it just the absolute best. Heaven.

But then the fact that I don’t like sushi doesn’t make the chefs, the culture, the lovers of sushi wrong. In some ways, it’s perhaps my loss. @acmi has done what it does best, and done it the best, and the people who love it will love it the best. Well done, @acmi

Big projects are difficult. We all know the rockstars @SedgwickKatrina and @sebchan. go to their coming keynotes. But it took so so many; in particular clamour to hear from Chris Harris & the exh team, Lucie Paterson, Mat Millikan, b-k-k.com.au and all at @acmilabs

Not one to front up at conferences and Twitter, Graham Jephcott has been the rock project director and COO since it was a glint in a new CEO’s eye. He should have BUCKETS of applause. I’ve done (a smaller version) that job and it’s unglamorous and difficult. Kudos, Graham. @acmi

Oh I should mention, my amazing teen Ms13 just unequivocally loved it. She’s also the film and art nerd, obsessive about editing and sound so yeah, that audience is captured well ;)

Last word for the facilities, HR and Finance teams @acmi. One hell of a project, through all the big project swamps, plus covid. Many people owe these teams for calm support and professionalism. I’m sure there’s depts and people I haven’t mentioned - sorry, you are all amazing!