Tasmanian tourism project goes up in smoke

Things can move glacially in Tasmania - and sometimes they just don’t move at all.

Take a multi-millon dollar tourism project designed to boost visitation to the Huon Valley in the far south of the state following major bushfires in February 2019.

Seven years after those fires, with not one brick laid, proponent DarkLab announced that it will cease further work on the Transformer project at Ida Bay with activities to be wound up by the end of July.

Despite receiving approvals from Huon Valley Council and Tasmania Parks and Wildlife in 2023 and 2024, an increase in projected costs, particularly in relation to visitor service structures, has rendered the project untenable.

DarkLab CEO and creative director Leigh Carmichael said: “It is with a heavy heart that we make this announcement today. We have given the project every opportunity to succeed, but after seven years’ work we have made the decision not to proceed.

“We would like to thank the far south community for their support, and we are disappointed that we have been unable to finish what we began. It’s difficult to walk away from the unrealised potential.

“We would like to thank the Huon Valley Council, the State Government, and the Federal Government who have worked patiently with us throughout this process, along with the artist and many people who have worked on the project since its inception.

“Unfortunately, the environmental and economic landscape is very different from when we were first asked to look at this project back in 2019. The long approval process, Covid and rising construction costs have all worked against us this time.

“While we still believe a catalyst project is urgently needed to spark further tourism visitation and investment in the Huon Valley, the timing for this project is no longer right.

“We will now focus on working with the Office for the Arts to acquit the Federal Government grant and ensure the funds are returned in full. 

"DarkLab, with [Mona owner] David Walsh, will cover the costs incurred in attempting to realise the project.”

Transformer was to be a site-specific commission by American artist Doug Aitken, a pavilion with a reflective interior, creating a lens consisting of angles and facets, a kaleidoscope that interacted with the landscape over the changing seasons.