Dark Mofo 2019: Take a sneak peek at the new Dark Path

The much-loved Dark Park is no more and in its place is the 4km art trail Dark Path running from the Regatta Grounds to the botanical gardens. Take a look at what’s on offer before it opens.

A Tesla machine provides an electric element to Dark Path in the botanical gardens. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

THERE are moments of delight, awe and disquiet at Dark Path — a 4km art trail winding through the inner-city bushland of the Queen’s Domain and the most accessible, family-friendly part of Dark Mofo.

A preview tour of the event, which opens on Friday night, revealed it’s a worthy replacement of the much-loved night-time Dark Park at Macquarie Point, and an exciting evolution of it.

Walking in Hobart’s bushland area at the Queen’s Domain and in the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Garden after dark will be a real highlight for many. And there are plenty of suitably stylish places — such as the Talisker Wilderness Bar on the site of the old Beaumaris Zoo — to warm up, eat and drink along the way.

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The Royal Tasmanian Botainical Gardens’ paths lit up in red. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

There are some wondrous and strange sights to behold at multiple venues, including the old Zoo, the Queen Victoria Powder Magazine, the Botanical Gardens and the Regatta grounds.

Though the trail officially starts at the Regattta Grounds, you can dip into it anywhere.

We begin at the Queen Victoria Powder Magazine, where artist Chris Henschke has created “Demon Core”, an experimental sound and light installation informed by physics.

It’s dark and eerie inside the former explosives storage facility, which is bathed in an ethereal blue light and has been transformed into something akin to a mad scientist’s lab.

The light and sound works here are beautiful, and there’s a fascinating background story about the incident which inspired the work.

One of the pictures in Julie Gough’s installation Missing or Dead. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

Just beyond the Powder Magazine, a winding path leads us through one of the standout artworks of this year’s festival — Missing or Dead by Julie Gough.

This potent artwork forms a long-overdue memorial to 185 Aboriginal children who went missing, were lost, stolen or died during the early colonial years in Tasmania.

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Atmospheric red lights mark the way through this installation made up of 185 posters, with the words “Dead”, “Missing” or — occasionally — “Survived”, a silhouette profile of a boy or girl and details of an individual Tasmanian Aboriginal child. It’s an emotionally powerful experience.

Further down the hill is the artistic, food and drinks hub of Dark Path at the botanical gardens. A couple of hours could be spent here alone, discovering spectacular and thought-provoking art — including film and light displays — within the garden and various plant houses.

Standouts include a giant Tesla coil electrical display in the garden by American researcher Greg Leyh. This is literally electrifying to see — it’s the closest you might ever come to seeing what looks like a bolt of lightning almost within arm’s length.

Byron Powell, left, and Nicholas Edwards at the Talisker Wilderness Bar on the site of the old Beaumaris Zoo. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

There are also some fascinating film works in the plant houses around the gardens by artists including Grace Herbert, Paul Murphy and Sawtooth ARI.

Their work explores connections between historic Tasmanian animal enclosures, the state’s expanding tourism economy, and examples of capturing and mimicking nature from around the world.

Part of the charm of this is experiencing the botanical gardens after dark, and wandering through buildings that usually contain just plants.

There are some very cool drinking venues here, too, such as the Hendrick’s Gin Bar.

An assortment of food vans, parked outside the Gardens’ main gates, will be moving in for the duration.

This is just a glimpse of what’s on offer. There’s a performance at Government House by S.J. Norman, Take This, For It Is My Body, and an installation by American multimedia and installation artist Tony Oursler at the old zoo.

Other highlights are to be found at the Regatta Grounds, where there’s a sprawling interactive art maze in which 12 large shipping containers with audio-visual projections and performances depict life beside, with and on the sea. This could be a separate day walk entirely.