Collisions: Lynette Wallworth

Opening as part of the Melbourne Festival, ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) presents Collisions, a deeply poetic and thought-provoking virtual reality film experience by acclaimed Australian filmmaker and artist, Lynette Wallworth, exploring the collision of science and spirit.

Collisions is Wallworth's first work using VR technology and the first known VR document of an Indigenous story. By employing this technology, Wallworth places the audience at the epicentre of a powerful cinematic experience.

Collisions takes audiences on a journey into the homeland of Indigenous elder Nyarri Nyarri Morgan and the Martu tribe in the remote Western Australian desert. The Martu lived largely untouched by Western culture until the 1960's, and Nyarri's first contact with Western culture came in the 1950's via a dramatic collision between his traditional world view and the cutting edge of Western science and technology when he witnessed firsthand and with no context, an atomic test.

Half a century later, another technology affords Nyarri the chance to show the audiences the world that was ruptured the day he witnessed an atomic explosion in the desert. From songs of the oldest surviving culture on the planet to drones soaring above the red desert, from projectors powered by car battery to bombs that poison the land, this is a world that finds itself once again teetering on a precipice of technological change that questions how we will steward it into the future.

Combining live action and animation, the ambitious project included the challenge of 360 degree filming in remote locations, involving crew driving vast distances to avoid being in frame. The experience is narrated by Wallworth and Nyarri's grandson Curtis Taylor, and produced by US-based producer, Nicole Newnham.

Collisions was created when Wallworth was selected as the inaugural artist of the Sundance Institute New Frontier/Jaunt VR Residency Program. With Nyarri present, it premiered before world leaders in January this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Since then, Collisions has been shown at the Climate Action Summit in Washington DC and at the UN offices in Vienna, where it was shown to signatories of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation, as well as screening at numerous film festivals such as the Tribeca Film Festival and San Francisco International Film Festival.

'I am so happy to be showing Collisions at ACMI in October as part of the Melbourne Festival," said Wallworth. 'As my work HOLD; Vessel 1 was part of the very first exhibition at ACMI in 2002 it has always held a special place for me." 

Collisions is Wallworth's third work with the Martu people of the Western Desert. She said the privilege of being invited by Nyarri and the Martu tribe to tell this story extends to the audience who, thanks to VR, are welcomed fora brief time to witness this extraordinary story and hear the message Nyarri imparts using the most current of technologies.

'Collisions, my new VR work, is a powerful parable for our country. Nyarri Morgan's story has been hidden till now so I am grateful that it will be showcased at ACMI allowing many to contemplate its message," she said.

ACMI CEO and Director, Katrina Sedgwick, agrees the message of Collisions is a powerful one.

'This extraordinary work takes us into the world of the Martu people, connecting us with Nyarri's story, and enabling us insight into his experience and that of his community and allowing us to ask urgent questions."

'Lynette has an exceptional ability to harness new technologies to create her works, revealing stories in a way that creates a deeply affecting and emotional connection for her audiences," said Sedgwick.

An acclaimed Australian artist and director, Wallworth's immersive installations and films reflect connections between people and the natural world. Her work has shown at the Lincoln Centre for the Performing Arts, New York, the American Museum of Natural History, New York, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, London Film Festival, Auckland Triennial and the Brighton Festival among others.