Griffith review launches its Tasmania themed issue

Published on : Wednesday, February 6, 2013

The Tasmanian-themed issue of Griffith REVIEW – Tasmania: The Tipping Point?, a collaboration between Griffith REVIEW and the University of Tasmania, will be launched this evening at Hobart’s Town Hall. Within the special issue, thinkers and doers from Tasmania and beyond challenge how Tasmania is seen by outsiders, discuss how Tasmanians see themselves and examine whether the island state has reached a ‘tipping point’.

In an excerpt from Tasmania: The Tipping Point? Professor Cassandra Pybus, one of Australia’s best known and most admired non-fiction writers, ponders…

THE sharp chill of winter has settled upon southern Tasmania and I now rise at the same time as the sun to witness an eerily beautiful phenomenon unique to this part of the world. The ‘Bridgewater Jerry’ is caused by cold air draining down the mountain overnight and collecting in the Derwent Valley at Bridgewater, where it is expelled each morning as a dense column of fog that rolls down the river to dissipate into the ocean….

No matter where I am on this island, every day there will be a sight to stop me in my tracks and fill my chest with sudden radiance. What I feel is passion, no doubt about it; Tasmania is my one enduring love. When I am away for any substantial length of time this glorious landscape fills my dreams and impels me homeward. Herein lies my conundrum: I can’t live anywhere else than this beautiful, empty terminus of the world, yet living here poses an intellectual challenge I find difficult to transcend.

Tasmania has long been on the edge of national conversations about prosperity, equality and identity. In Tasmania: The Tipping Point? Griffith REVIEW serves up strategic slices of Tasmania’s past, present and future, prepared by some of the country’s most talented writers and storytellers including Natasha Cica – Director of the Inglis Clark Centre for Civil Society at the University of Tasmania, MONA’s David Walsh, and Matthew Evans, acclaimed food writer and gourmet farmer.

Geographic isolation, a distinctive natural environment and small social scale are increasingly seen as blessings, presenting remarkable opportunities. The arrival of David Walsh’s block-busting Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) in Hobart has inspired confidence in championing Tasmania as a cultural, economic, environmental and social test bed – despite some entrenched local resistance. Tasmania: The Tipping Point? challenges how Tasmania is seen by outsiders and illuminates how Tasmanians see themselves, at home and in the wider world.
With a treasure trove of interesting stories and historical tales just waiting to be uncovered, Tasmania is a haven for the thinking traveller; a place where enchanting stories and cultural pursuits are matched in equal quantity only by its pristine wilderness and sumptuous produce. From the historical significance of the Female Factory in Hobart and further afield in Port Arthur to the magnetic pull of cultural trailblazer the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Tasmania is the perfect destination for visitors who like to delve a little deeper.

The perfect lure for the thinking traveller is Tasmania’s glowing line up of autumn and winter events. For the first time in 2013, Dark MOFO, the winter stepchild of Tasmania’s popular summer event MONA FOMA, will add a little spice to Tasmania’s events offering. Led by MONA in conjunction with a range of partners including Festival of Voices, MOFOs can expect a festival of fire, food, art, music and light held during winter’s deep embrace at MONA and in the streets of Hobart. Festival highlights will include a large-scale fire and light event at Salamanca, a night market at Princes Wharf shed No 1, a music program from Brian Ritchie, and MONA’s next major exhibition The Red Queen (19 June 2013 to 29 April 2014) which explores the way art operates as part of the messy machinery of human nature.

Other cultural gems not to be missed include Ten Days on the Island; Tasmania’s state-wide, multi art form event, Hobart Baroque; Australia’s first ever festival dedicated to celebrating music from the 17th & 18th centuries and the state’s acclaimed Festival of Voices in July.

Source:- Tourism Tasmania

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