Source : Perth Now news
It’s a merger of two perhaps quintessential Tasmanian things – a bungled infrastructure project and quirky depths-of-winter art.
Preparations were in their final throes on Monday in Hobart in a collaboration involving one of two new Spirit of Tasmania ferries and annual festival Dark Mofo.
The vessels are not in service and are years behind schedule and $717 million over budget, mainly because a new port in the state’s northwest wasn’t completed before the ferries were finished.
The saga involving state-government-owned ferry operator TT-Line made international headlines.
It’s something Dark Mofo organisers and the state government hope happens again, for better reasons.
Dark Mofo artistic director Chris Twite said the festival jumped at the chance to use the ferry, which is in Hobart for its final fit-out.
The ship’s two freight decks, each 4.8m high and 180m long, will feature art installations as part of the event’s Dark Park offering.
“One of the things Dark Mofo has done for years is work with industrial spaces,” Mr Twite said, ahead of the festival’s opening on Thursday.
“Every time we’ve done a Dark Park, we’ve looked around at all the incredible ships. To grab a window like this is nigh impossible.”
One of the installations is Perros Chaos, which features roaming autonomous robot dogs.
The state government was forced to give an extra $506 million in its May 2026/27 to debt-riddled TT-Line to keep it afloat.
Tasmania’s Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kerry Vincent said the project was “past the negativity” and he didn’t think the Dark Mofo collaboration was a bad look for the state.
“We haven’t hid from the fact mistakes were made. We haven’t hid from the fact we’re here to get it going,” he said.
“This is a very unique opportunity for us to do something special for Tasmania and for Dark Mofo.”
TT-Line general manager Tom Wootton said there were a range of measures in place to ensure the vessel doesn’t suffer any damage when thousands of festival-goers go aboard.
Dark Mofo made the first move about using the ferry, which resulted in a “really fun” initial meeting, Mr Wootton said.
“We thought ‘this is pretty out there’. But then we thought ‘why couldn’t it happen? We’re going to be here in Hobart anyway’,” he said.
Other artworks to be shown include illuminated text and a visual montage with techno soundtrack.
The ferries are now on track to be sailing across Bass Strait in October.
