Audio project a walk on Tassie’s wild side

AS natural problem solvers, Hobart scientists and artists have come up with an innovative way to keep a festival running in the age of coronavirus.

The annual Beaker Street festival usually fuses science, art and fun through events at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and other locations around Hobart.

With the cancellation of most major events in 2020, Beaker Street has undergone a radical rethink to allow it to continue.

The group has unveiled a new winter project called Sci Art Walks, a series of audio-escapes that will encourage listeners to get out into Tasmania’s stunning natural environments.

The audio artworks feature unscripted talks by some of the state’s most prominent scientists and cultural icons, with original music composed and performed by Tasmanian musicians. Beaker Street director Margo Adler said the change in plans due to coronavirus brought new opportunities.

“We had no intention of being just another crossedout event on the 2020 calendar, and we didn’t want to deliver a second-best version of the festival either,” Dr Adler said. “We have this incredible group of Tasmanian scientists and artists we’ve been collaborating with for a few years, so we said, let’s make the most of this, and do something different, something we’ve never done before.”

The Sci Art Walks will be released in August as part of National Science Week, in conjunction with the annual Beaker Street Science Photography Prize, which will be open for entries from 11 July.

To register for the Sci Art Walks and to enter the photography prize visit www .beakerstreet.com.au