Dark Mofo festival’s fiery, frenzied finale

THE fears and regrets of thousands of people have been ceremoniously banished in a spectacular, fiery conclusion to the artistic centrepiece of Dark Mofo.

The Ogoh-Ogoh goes up in an impressive ball of flames in the dramatic finale to Dark Mofo. Pictures: LUKE BOWDEN

THE fears and regrets of thousands of people were ceremoniously banished in a spectacular, fiery conclusion to the artistic centrepiece of Dark Mofo last night.

The ogoh-ogoh, an Indonesian sculpture, was paraded through the streets of Hobart from Salamanca Place to Dark Park at Macquarie Point. There, in front of a crowd of hundreds, the papier mache sculpture of a weedy sea-dragon was set alight as part of a traditional Indonesian cleansing ritual. It was a stunning climax to the final night of the Dark Park art festival and Winter Feast.

During Dark Mofo more than 10,000 patrons wrote down their darkest thoughts and biggest regrets and placed them inside the ogoh-ogoh.

Last night the sculpture was dramatically set on fire during a spectacle involving Indonesian performer I Ketut Rina with a trance-inducing exorcism dance, a local chorus of singers and dancers, and American 32-piece percussion orchestra Itchy-O.

The ogoh-ogoh is carried through the streets on its way to Dark Park and a fiery end .

Before last night, 50,000 people had already explored Dark Park and 43,000 had visited the Winter Feast.

Both events wrapped up last night with thousands packing into the feast to make the most of the free entry and a huge crowd at Dark Park for the ogoh-ogoh burning.

The parade and burning followed a special closing ceremony attended by a large delegation of Indonesian guests, including the Indonesian Ambassador to Australia, Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, reflecting the country’s growing relationship with Dark Mofo.

Kecak dancers, bambu gila performers and gamelan musicians have all been part of Dark Mofo 2016, while the Asia Institute Tasmania conducted Indonesian cultural workshops for more than 400 schoolchildren during the festival.

“We are excited to be a part of this extremely popular cultural festival,” Mr Nadjib said.

“The Purging and The Burning are a great opportunity for us to showcase just one small aspect of Indonesia’s rich cultural heritage, and we hope it generates a greater interest among Australians to visit and find out more.”

The Ogoh-Ogoh parade travels down Macquarie St to Dark Park.

Creative director Leigh Carmichael said the partnership with Indonesia was a big step towards Dark Mofo’s vision of “becoming the iconic Australian winter festival”.

“The next phase for us is to build deep and meaningful cross-cultural exchange programs with other countries, like the very strong one we’ve started here with the Indonesian government,” he said.

“The ogoh-ogoh is becoming a highlight of the festival, and a symbolic way to end the festival and banish our fear. We’re looking forward to working [with the Indonesian government] hopefully for many years as this project develops and our relationship strengthens.”

The ogoh-ogoh are now in ashes and the Winter Feast has dished up its final meal for the year, but Dark Mofo isn’t done just yet.

Percussion orchestra Itchy-O leads the music to the Ogoh-Ogoh parade and burning.

The festival continues today – the Day of Silence – with two more events: the sold-out Heart of Darkness concert at St David’s Cathedral featuring John Tavener, Peter Sculthorpe, Arnold Schoenberg and Allison Bell; and Tasdance’s 14-hour dance performance installation Hal’cyon at the Odeon Theatre.

Very different from anything Tasdance has attempted before, Hal’cyon features about 50 dancers of all ages and ability, drawn from across Tasmania and interstate.

Hal’cyon begins at 4.50pm and continues until 7.40am – sunset to sunrise. Entry is free, with audience members invited to come and go as they please throughout the night.

Dark Mofo will finish with a splash tomorrow morning, with the traditional Nude Solstice Swim to be held at Sandy Bay’s Long Beach Reserve at 7.42am.

More than 1000 people have signed up for the chilly skinny dip. If you want to join them, go to www.darkmofo.net.au to register.