Dark delight

By Heather Smith

It’s not every day I’m traipsing through the dark along a flame-lit trail but then this is no ordinary festival.

I’ve ventured to Tasmania’s capital for my first taste of Dark Mofo, Hobart’s surprising Winter festival that delves into centuries-old Winter solstice rituals and explores the links between ancient and contemporary mythology, humans and nature, religious and secular traditions, darkness and light, and birth, death and renewal.

They seem heavy topics for a weekend getaway to the peaceful water-side city but the crowds are unperturbed. Visitor numbers to this unorthodox festival have been growing each year since it arrived on the scene in 2013.

I’m not sure what to expect although I’m told that’s exactly what the organisers want you to feel. The Museum of Old and New Art, known as MONA, attracts thousands of curious visitors every year to its impressive art space and now their festival offspring is following suit.

It’s Friday night and the 18 days festival is in full swing. I’ve bundled myself in to my warmest clothes and set off for this year’s newest offering, Dark Path.

It’s indeed dark. No-one normally roams the sprawling 14 hectare botanical gardens precinct on the city’s outskirts at night but here we are. Fortunately, there are lots of us and we follow the winding path through the wooded grounds relying on the fiery lanterns that show the way.

There is a solemn trance to our collective shuffling, which reminds me of the pre-dawn crowd descending on my local Mother’s Memorial each Anzac Day. Perhaps it is the dark, or the cold, or the mystery, that casts a muffled stillness over the pack as we faithfully push further into the blackness.

Walking in the dark in a place that’s generally avoided at night prompts me to ponder about how we use public space, our fears of the dark and being prodded beyond our comfort zone. It occurs to me that if it weren’t for Dark Mofo, I would never be walking through Hobart’s Queens Domain on a cold night. It is these experiences and revelations that I start to realise are at the heart of Dark Mofo’s purpose.

The darkness is suddenly punctured by eerie voices and we traipse into the old Beaumaris Zoo to bear witness to a ‘digital de-extinction’ of the legendary Tasmania tiger via sweeping projections, sound and light. The last living tiger on record died here in the 1930s. The effect is both mesmerising and ghostly and causes some children to beg their parents to move on.

We don’t go far before we encounter The Wilderness Bar, a rustic makeshift watering hole with open fire pits. We pull up stools and devour blue cheese toasties washed down with a hot toddy. The location and fit-out of the bar are exceptional and make you feel that you are indeed in the middle of no-where.

If we thought that was hard to top, we soon reach The Gin Bar. The botanical garden’s historic glasshouse has been bejewelled with candles and their soft flickering casts a romantic filter across the jovial congregation. We sample the warm spiced gin and local pinot noir before retracing our steps via Julie Gough’s powerful installation, Missing or Dead, a memorial to over 180 Tasmania Aboriginal children stolen or lost during the early colonial years of the island.

The next day we make a beeline for Hobart’s dockside for what the festival describes as “our biggest banquet yet, and a mass celebration of cooking with fire”.

The Winter Feast at Princes Wharf is a regular event on the festival’s calendar and a foodie’s amusement park. The selection is interesting and unusual with plenty of vegetarian and vegan options too. The beverages are equally compelling and it’s hard to choose between mulled wines, spiced gins, hot toddy’s, warm ciders and Tassie’s award-winning wine. In the end, we opt for a little taste of everything.

Despite the large crowd, there is plenty of space for everyone and the atmosphere is cheery and convivial. People gather around open fire drums and we more than once marvel and rejoice at the festival’s audacity to include them.

A weekend is not long enough to experience everything on the Dark Mofo program. I scan the impressive list of intriguing events and installations and promise to return next year for a longer stay.