What can museums learn from underground raves, video games, and experimental music? In this episode of Matters of Experience, ACMI Director and CEO Seb Chan shares his remarkable journey from Sydney’s early electronic-music scene to leading one of the world’s most innovative museums of screen culture.

Seb explores how immersive experiences can spark curiosity without excluding audiences, why visitors often know more than institutions about the media they love, and how museums can provide the context that makes those connections meaningful. Enjoy a lively conversation about creativity, participation, and designing experiences that welcome everyone into the unfamiliar.

Charles Philipp believes museums can be small, surprising, and everywhere. As the founder of MICRO (www.micro.ooo), he creates immersive, research-driven exhibitions that fit into everyday settings, reaching audiences in hospitals, libraries, and other public spaces that traditional cultural institutions may overlook. In this conversation Charles traces the path from his early work in animation and fabrication to building a new kind of museum infrastructure. He discusses how MICRO designs for short attention spans without sacrificing depth, how optical illusions and tactile details can spark curiosity, and why exhibitions should speak with communities rather than at them. The episode explores the impact of MICRO's public-hospital installations during COVID, the value of rapid physical prototyping, and a new project that turns a retro refrigerator into a museum about food, biology, culture, and the microbiome.

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Josh Perelman about the power of museums to shape memory, identity, and emotional connection. Through the story of The First Salute exhibition, the conversation explores how objects, narratives, and technology can bring overlooked histories to life. Dr. Perelman reflects on the responsibility of museums to create space for empathy, complexity, and multiple perspectives, while also discussing how AI and digital tools may change the way audiences experience the past. This episode offers an insightful look at how cultural institutions can move beyond simply presenting history and instead invite visitors into deeper conversations about who we are, where we come from, and how stories continue to shape our shared future.