The South Australian Museum will become a forest that never sleeps when its summer exhibition GONDWANA VR: The Exhibition opens for 48 continuous hours in an epic weekend as part of the 2024 Adelaide Festival program.

From 5pm Friday 8 March to 5pm Sunday 10 March, visitors will be able to roam the digital forest at all hours of the day and night by slipping on a VR headset, or exploring an immersive installation that expands the rainforest beyond the goggles through projection, lighting, cinematic sound, and pieces from the Museum’s historic Natural Science collections.

Across this marathon 48-hour event the Museum will also host a rolling program of free and ticketed family-friendly events, from meditation and yoga sessions to live music, film screenings, storytime, hands-on paint and sip and drumming workshops, and floor talks from speakers including GONDWANA VR creators Ben Joseph Andrews and Emma Roberts, and South Australia’s Chief Public Health Officer Professor Nicola Spurrier.

A multi-sensory experience inspired by the 180-million-year-old Daintree tropical rainforest, the exhibition showcases the award-winning virtual reality work GONDWANA VR. Andrews and Roberts spent five months off-grid and on the ground in the World Heritage-listed Daintree and Wet Tropics to create an ever-changing digital tribute to this wild and ancient ecosystem.

Adelaide Festival Artistic Director Ruth Mackenzie said: “Huge thanks to the South Australian Museum for inviting these amazing digital artists Ben Joseph Andrews, Emma Roberts and their team, to present Gondwana VR: The Exhibition.  

“The Adelaide Festival is thrilled to work together with the South Australian Museum to offer a 48-hour immersive experience exploring the oldest tropical rainforest in the world and the biodiversity damage humans have inflicted in the last 100 years.

“Pop in anytime or stay as long and as late as you like - the longer you are in the Forest, the more you contribute to reducing the damage. Have an incredible experience and contribute to saving the forest at the same time.”

South Australian Museum Chief Executive Dr David Gaimster said this 48-hour activation offered a new and exciting way for festivalgoers to experience the Museum after hours.

“While Adelaide’s famous Mad March brings a fast and furious mix of culture to the city, GONDWANA VR: The Exhibition will offer a meditative oasis that brings the beauty and fragility of our natural world into vivid relief.

“We are thrilled to partner with Adelaide Festival to share the full scope of Ben and Emma’s vision for GONDWANA VR with a festival season audience.”

48 Hours of GONDWANA VR: The Exhibition
From 5pm, Friday 8 March – 5pm, Sunday 10 March

GONDWANA VR: The Exhibition is open daily 10am-5pm from 9 December 2023 - 17 March 2024