Hobart’s Underground ArtBar is open for a second time with a full arts, food and drinks lineup

Hobart artist Eamonn Miller will join acrobats, puppeteers, comedians, DJs, visual artists and other art lovers at the second opening of the Underground ArtBar beneath Hobart Town Hall.

Artist Eamonn Miller, pictured in front of his mural in Bidencopes Lane, is a guest artist at Hobart’s Underground ArtBar. Picture: ZAK SIMMONDS.

ARTIST Eamonn Miller will give a “renegade TED Talk” and live art performance at the second opening of Hobart’s Underground ArtBar.

The bar, a rustic space made up of four rooms beneath the Hobart Town Hall, will be open tomorrow and Saturday from 7.30pm until midnight.

“The opening line of my talk is ‘I have a nightmare’, which goes on to spell out some tipping-point issues in Hobart and surrounds that we’re going to deal with through our art on the evening,” says Miller, whose mural in Bidencopes Lane shares the same title.

“I’m also painting live there, interacting with the evening and letting the vibe take control of my brush. We’ll be lashing out with some interactive art as we go, interacting with live performers, musicians, DJs, comperes, and comedians. It’s like a circus underneath the Town Hall at night-time.”

Miller returned home to Tasmania this year after working as a TV and film producer, presenter and writer interstate and overseas. He left Hobart when he was 19 for a job with the ABC’s digital FLY TV.

“I’ve been back six months and have been in the thick of the Hobart tipping-point issues that I found myself among,’’ he says. “The housing crisis definitely affected me pretty heavily. It’s been a really flux time trying to find work and a place to live, which is pretty difficult in this town. I’ve experienced all the hardships and I’m channelling that into my work.

“There’s also been a lot of joy. It’s where I had to be. I’ve been away 18 years and had to come back to my home.”

The second opening of the art bar, themed “The Tipping Point’’, includes circus/aerial and physical theatre performers, musicians and composers, dancers, comedian Sam Schofield, puppeteer Bryony Geeves and visual artists.

“This month we are highlighting a lot more visual art as well as performance art, and adding an extra gallery component where guests are able to purchase the art they are viewing on the night from the artists,” says Underground ArtBar production manager Jack Lark.

“As an addition, we are opening up the space tomorrow [Friday] between 6pm and 7pm as a gallery launch, where guests are invited to view the visual art for free and enjoy a beverage before the doors open at 7.30pm for the main event.”

Food provided by Alice Mahina and Toni Burnett Rands of Honey Child’s Creole Corneris will be available on site. The bar menu includes Glaetzer Dixon wines, Hobart Brewing Company Beer, Lost Pippin cider, gin and vodka from Lawrenny Estate, whisky from Lark Distillery, and a few specialty cocktails.

Access to the bar is via the Town Hall carpark, and attendance will be capped at 100 people each night. Future dates are to be confirmed.

Tickets are $32 and are available online from www.undergroundartbar.com.au