Press release from ACMI
The Australian Centre for the Moving Image yesterday welcomed the 100,000th visitor to its Melbourne Winter Masterpieces show Tim Burton: The Exhibition, breaking attendance records for the centre.
The exhibition, which opened on 24 June, exactly five weeks ago, has become one of the hottest tickets in town this winter with queues spilling out of the centre into Federation Square.
Artist and film maker, Tim Burton, delighted crowds with an appearance at ACMI in June to officially open the exhibition. Recounting his visit, he said; "During my visit to Melbourne I saw first hand how passionate the city is about art and film and I met hundreds of fans who were really warm and welcoming."
"Even though it is a bit exposing to have my work displayed in this context, even within ACMI's dark and mysterious gallery, I'm thrilled that so many visitors are enjoying the exhibition," he said.
ACMI Director Tony Sweeney said it was a history-making day for ACMI. “From the moment we decided to do this show, we knew we were onto something special. The response from visitors has been incredible; the most resounding response we’ve had to an exhibition in ACMI’s short life and to reach one hundred thousand visitors in only five weeks is really something.”
Visitation numbers to the exhibition are the highest in ACMI’s short history, beating the centres previous Melbourne Winter Masterpieces blockbuster Pixar: 20 Years of Animation (2007), by 60% at the same five-week mark. The single biggest day for Tim Burton drew 5300 visitors which is again a record previously held by Pixar with a highest single day attendance of 3600.
Tim Burton: The Exhibition is the largest temporary exhibition ever to be staged at ACMI. With more than 700 objects, it is an extended version of the original which was conceived and curated by New York’s Museum of Modern Art. MoMA’s exhibition drew more than 850,000 visitors, making it the third highest attended exhibition to show at the museum behind the likes of Picasso and Matisse.
Tracing Burton’s visual imagination from his earliest childhood drawings through his mature work in film (such as Batman, Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd and most recently Alice in Wonderland), the exhibition brings together examples of rarely or never-before-seen drawings, paintings, photographs, storyboards, moving image works, maquettes, costumes and cinematic ephemera and includes an extensive film series spanning his 28-year career.
For the ACMI incarnation, however, Burton worked closely with curators and designers over several months to bring some new elements to the exhibition, including designing decorations for both the interior and exterior of the building and creating the ‘Burtonairum’ (a carnival tent centrepiece for the show). With the support of Disney ACMI added an Alice In Wonderland exhibit, Warner Bros. Movie World assisted with the acquisition of the Batmobile.
Public programs and film screenings compliment the exhibition experience and are programmed throughout the season.
Tim Burton: The Exhibition is on at ACMI now until Sunday 10 October.
For more information visit: www.acmi.net.au