Adelaide Festival – 48 hours of GONDWANA VR: The Exhibition

“A jaw-dropping feat” - The Guardian

“A love letter to the Daintree, but also a warning about its fragility.” - The Australian

“It was like the best dream I've ever had" - ABC Radio Adelaide

“A beautiful way to slow down and explore art, nature and the impacts of climate change” - ArtsHub

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 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.

About the Exhibition:
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.

This open-play environment condenses a century of change into a daily 24-hour cycle where no two days are the same. As the forest reacts to 100 years of climate data projections from 1990 to 2090, its health and future survival is placed in the audience’s hands.

Ahead of the exhibition’s conclusion on 17 March, audiences can finally experience the full breadth of this cycle spread over an entire weekend. With free exhibition re-entry for ticketholders across the 48 hours, visitors can come and go to check in on the forest and take in this unique space whatever their festival plans.

🧘‍♀️ Book now for Yoga in the Rainforest (Saturday 9 March, 8am)
😌 Book now for Meditation at the Museum (Sunday 10 March, 8am)
🎨 Book now for Paint and Sip at the Museum (Saturday 9 March, 4:30pm)

GONDWANA VR: The Exhibition is open daily 10am-5pm from 9 December 2023 - 17 March 2024. Tickets for sessions outside of Adelaide Festival can be purchased here.

Ticketing Terms and Conditions.

Please read the Health and Safety Information before booking.

If you have access requirements, please email education@samuseum.sa.gov.au with details of how we can better support your visit

Purchase Gift Cards here.

For more information visit here.