XYZZY (2023)

Created by leading contemporary artist Jess Johnson and director Simon Ward in partnership with Tūhura Otago Museum, XYZZY is an immersive art-based planetarium screening like no other. Developed through a decade of creative work, Johnson’s hand-drawn compositions are transformed by Ward into an animated web of flesh mandalas, self-replicating architecture, undulating worms, hallucinogenic patterns, and messianic alien deities. The dynamic visual atmosphere is charged with 90s-inspired electronic synthesiser tracks from musicians Andrew Clarke, Luke Rowell, Stef Animal and Lachlan Anderson. Sound design by Lachlan Anderson and mixed by immersive sound artist and film score engineer, Graham Kennedy. Jess Johnson and Simon Ward are internationally known and have exhibited in Hong Kong, Edinburgh, Montreal, Tokyo, and New York.