Dark Mofo 2019: Your quick guide to seeing Dark Mofo in two days

Intrigued and keen to soak up as much Dark Mofo as you can but just don’t have the time? Take advantage of our handy itinerary to get around the festival in less than 48 hours. SEE THE MAP

DARK Mofo offers festival-goers many ways to absorb some of the most weird and wonderful art installations they are likely to encounter.

With so much to see and do at the two-week festival, it can be a challenge deciding where to go, while navigating between the various Dark Mofo attractions dotted across the city of Hobart.

It’s a bit like the struggle deciding which flavour to choose in an ice cream shop. Do I pick the chocolate? But then I’ll regret not getting the peppermint choc chip. You know what, give me the rainbow.

The Winter Feast at PW1 is a Dark Mofo staple. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

Fortunately there’s a way to have a taste of all Dark Mofo has to offer this weekend.

After teaming up with festival organisers, the Mercury has compiled an easy-to-follow timetable for any inquisitive Dark Mofo visitor to make sure no sensory-buzzing art installation goes unmissed.

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YOUR ULTIMATE GUIDE TO DARK MOFO 2019

A map showing how to see the best of Dark Mofo in two days. Saturday’s times are in orange, and Sunday’s times are in blue.

TODAY

9am Kick the weekend off the right way by warming up with a coffee or a hot drink at award-winning Barista Will Priestly’s new Murray St enterprise, Pilgrim’s Progress, which has opened its doors in collaboration with the winter festival.

Brekkie pies and pastries can be bought there for those who’ve skipped a morning feed.

A short walk down the street will get you to Murray Street Pier where, for $22, you can take the Ferry out to Mona where a new $27 million extension has just opened.

9.30am If you have bought a coffee-to-go you might make it in time for the 9.30am ferry, otherwise the 11am boat might be the better choice.

Arriving at Mona at 11.30am you’ll easily be able to spend several hours taking in the wacky new installations, including Mona First Lady Kirscha Kaechele’s colourfulEat The Problem exhibit, and New Zealand artist Simon Denny’s Mine — which looks like a machinery showroom squeezed inside a life-size board game.

While there, don’t miss checking out Mona’s new extension Siloam which connects a network of underground tunnels and art gallery space including works by Alfredo Jaar and Ai Weiwei.

The weather bureau forecasts a party cloudy top of 13C today with no showers forecast, but it is Hobart … bring an umbrella.

Mona offers a range of lunch ideas including The Source and Museum cafe but don’t stuff yourself too full, as the Winter Feast is a Dark Mofo must.

Artist Simon Denny at his new exhibition Mine at MONA. Picture: FIONA HARDING

A 3pm ferry from Mona’s Berriedale Dock will get you back in time for the opening of the Winter Feast at Princes Wharf 1 at 4pm. The feast is just a stone’s throw from the ferry terminal.

With stacks of local produce including food and alcohol to choose from, the Winter Feast, Dark Mofo’s staple event, is one for everyone.

$20 door sales will get you into the event, where more than 80 stallholders will be open this weekend plus 15 music acts. From 4 to 5pm the feast is hosting free hands-on kids activities with food.

7.30pm Once you’ve indulged enough at the feast, be sure to wander up through Elizabeth St to check out A Forest on Melville St.

Festival organisers described A Forest as a way of “losing yourself in a contemporary ruin of art, noise, performance and the violent undergrowth of human nature”.

Note: Some works feature loud noises, bright strobing lights, nudity, violence and adult themes.

Slow Rinse, by Meagan Streader, at A Forest. Picture: DARKLAB MEDIA

9pm Conveniently located across the road is possibly the weirdest thing you’ll see today, or ever.

Japanese artist Saeborg’s installation of the same name will see you engage in a crowd-involving performance. Performers dressed in inflatable pig costumes in a blow-up barnyard setting is certainly something you have to see for yourself to truly understand.

If dancing with pigs has really got you in the mood, be sure to kick on.

Week One of Night Mass continues again tonight on the corner of Murray and Liverpool streets. Kicking off at 10pm, partygoers with a ticket to the sold-out event can dance the night away at “a ritual party on old and new grounds”.

If you’ve missed out on a ticket but still want to enjoy a nightcap, other nearby bars Dark Mofo organisers recommend include Rude Boy on Elizabeth St and Willing Bros. What a day!

TOMORROW

9am Coffee or a warm drink will likely be needed after Saturday’s escapades. Why not return to Pilgrim’s Progress for another drop of coffee for another bumper day of Dark Mofo fun.

10am Outside Hobart’s Town Hall on Macquarie St you’ll find a decorated 40-metre-long shipping container looking from the outside like something that’s holding council equipment. But take a look inside and you’ll see a “miniature English town set in the aftermath of a riot, where only police and media crews remain” — certainly a fun mythical experience and one the whole family can enjoy around the clock.

The Aftermath Dislocation Principle can be seen through tiny peep holes in a forty-foot shipping container on the forecourt of Hobart Town Hall. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

11am Located just down the road at TMAG, catch a glimpse of history at Tense Past by indigenous artist Julie Gough. The installation explores an interrogation of colonialism and its impact on Tasmania’s first people — then and now. Quite the eye-opener!

1pm Be sure to grab a feed at Hobart’s Farmgate Market, the weekly event has the best of Hobart’s produce together in the one place.

2.30pm Walk along Hobart’s docks and enjoy the red-hued vistas and take in some of Panopticon at Hunter St.

4pm Back to the Winter Feast!

A Tesla machine puts on an electrifying display in the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens. Picture: MATT THOMPSON

7.30pm Dark Path — a night-time walk on the edge of the city centre. Note: It involves a lot of walking. Another option is to proceed directly to the Botanical Gardens section, which features numerous artworks, bars, food trucks, artistic lighting, and which would be great for a wintry night-time picnic.

10pm The Glass House, Brooke St Pier, for a relaxed drink to reflect on a huge two days.