Loved Van Gogh Alive? Meet Connection, a powerful and immersive story of First Peoples art

Posted on 19 May, 2022

Next month, the National Museum of Australia will premiere world’s first multi-sensory Indigenous art experience in Canberra

From Grande Experiences, creators and producers of Van Gogh Alive, the most-visited multi-sensory exhibition in the world, comes the world premiere of a new art experience celebrating the spirit of Indigenous Australia which opens in Canberra in June.

Connection: Songlines from Australia’s First Peoples in a spectacular immersive experience, which opens at the National Museum of Australia on 8 June, will amplify your First Peoples art experience to new heights (and sounds) with an immersive installation that will be a true feast for the senses, created by the team behind Van Gogh Alive.

Featuring the work of some of Australia’s most prominent artists—think: Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Albert Namatjira, Tommy Watson, Gabriella Possum, Anna Pitjara and Lin Onus—Connection will blend art and sound with more than 300 images from some 100 artists projected in a dance of colour and light over a specially created exhibition space.

“The Museum is known for exploring and sharing First Peoples’ stories globally, for increasing accessibility and for bringing our stories alive,” says National Museum lead Indigenous curator and guest curator on Connection, Margo Ngawa Neale.

“There can be no better way to bring our songlines stories alive than through the awe-inspiring use of sound and light animations of Connection.”

Representing the diversity of Australia’s First Peoples, Connection will showcase images from remote, rural and urban areas working in traditional and contemporary art forms across Australia, honouring the vital contribution that First Peoples artists, cultural custodians and knowledge holders make to Australia’s arts and cultural landscape.

Building on First Peoples and artists’ spiritual connection to land, water and sky, Connection was developed and supported by a curatorial advisory panel of experts and leaders in the arts including producer, director and arts executive Rhoda Roberts AO, Margo Ngawa Neale, Aboriginal arts specialist Adam Knight, Indigenous photographic artist Wayne Quilliam and Aboriginal designer and film producer Alison Page.

Grande Experiences will be using state-of-the-art technology to create an interactive exhibition space that will envelope visitors in large-scale, immersive projections and cinematic surround sound.

Visitors are encouraged to sit, stand, wander and explore the space during their allocated time slot, with the projections the perfect way to show little ones a new side to the museum experience.

Naturally, Connection will have strict COVID-19 protocols in place, with limited tickets per session.

Feature image: Artist’s impression of Connection. Image courtesy of Grande Experiences.