Last few days in Melbourne
New Year in Melbourne turned into a very wet affair. The night was spent at a friend’s house and although the meat was successfully cooked on the barbie the rain soon followed forcing us all indoors. Still, that didn’t stop us all going outside at midnight and watching some of the fireworks coming from the city. By the time we walked back down St Georges Road the rain had finally stopped.
The weekend was spent down on the Mornington Peninsula, which always makes for a good evening. Usually with a little too much wine and a late night. Sunday morning came around and for once I had to be up early to go and watch Will and Gerald in their cycle race.
With only a few days left in Melbourne I had another day out in the city, visiting the Immigration Museum and ACMI, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image.
The Immigration Museum is housed in the old Customs House and takes a look back at immigration in the city. Moving through the decades the museum details the lives of immigrants and their reasons for coming to Australia. Melbourne is a very diverse city and many different cultures have converged to make the city what it is today.
ACMI, in Federation Square, proved to be a less interesting place. Although free to enter most of the exhibition it is a fairly dull look at the history of film, radio and television with more of an international feel rather than an Australian one. The one highlight was the Dennis Hopper and the New Hollywood exhibition.
Featuring so much of Dennis Hopper’s work in one place makes you wonder how, given his lifestyle in younger years, he managed to accomplish so much. Not just an actor, the exhibition features many film clips, but an artist, director and photographer. The exhibition includes many of Hopper’s own work and numerous other work by his contemporaries (such as Andy Warhol, Ed Ruscha, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Viggo Mortensen and Jenny Holzer) which Hopper owns.
“ACMI is excited to present this Australian-exclusive exhibition celebrating the work and life of a truly extraordinary filmmaker and artist. The exhibition allows us to engage in great depth and detail the catalogue of work by a courageous artist, reflecting on a bygone era which radically influenced the film industry that exists today.” – ACMI Director, Tony Sweeney
And so, with one final day in Melbourne I took a tram down to St Kilda for a morning walk and coffee at Abbey Road on Acland St. A chance to reflect on what has been an extremely enjoyable few weeks in this part of the world.
