The 2025 edition of Hobart Current – a major biennial project that nurtures and showcases contemporary artists who work across multiple artforms – was led by Tasmanian creative directors and showcases artworks by 10 Tasmanian-based artists.
The exhibition opened on Friday, 14 November.
Its theme is ‘here’. Co-creative directors Denise Robinson and Travis Tiddy said the theme represents a moment of convergence.
“Grounded in time, care and dialogue, this program brings together artists from across Lutruwita,” the pair said.
“Each work begins in place yet reaches outward, exploring how we live, exchange and imagine in an era of fragmentation.
“We invite audiences to linger, to listen, to question – and to activate ‘here’ in their own way.”
Running until Sunday, 26 April 2026, Hobart Current – Here features seven works within the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) and three in prominent outdoor locations within Hobart’s CBD.
Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said the exhibition goes “beyond gallery walls”.
“[It transforms] the city’s open spaces into vibrant art experiences – from Franklin Square and Salamanca Lawns to Mawson Place and Mathers House, with one exhibition even taking visitors on a bus journey around Hobart.
“Hobart Current invites us all to reflect on what it means to be here – together, now.”
The project is a long-term partnership between the City of Hobart and TMAG. Ambient music plays throughout the exhibition space at TMAG, creating a quiet, contemplative atmosphere.
Body Casts & Broken Flags
One of the seven works within TMAG – Body Shells by Jenni Large – is perhaps the most distinctive. It is a durational performance installation featuring plaster body casts suspended from chains hung from the ceiling.
Body Shells by Jenni Large.
The artwork that is possibly the most representative of the exhibition’s theme is Cut from the Same Cloth (Disassembly of Empire) by Sara Morawetz. Consisting of deconstructed flags, video and text, the artwork emerged from Morawetz’s lived experience as an Australian of British descent and a long-term immigrant in the United States. It challenges the entangled legacies of empire and the complicities that can shape an individual’s identity, and questions the repetition of imperial patterns.
Cut from the Same Cloth (Disassembly of Empire) by Sara Morawetz.
The other artists of Hobart Current are Marion Abraham, Jodi Haines, Andy Hutson, Jade Irvine, Jonny Scholes, Mary Scott, Dylan Sheridan and Peter Waller.
Callum J. Jones is passionate about telling stories. He studied English, History, and Journalism at the University of Tasmania and lived in Western Sydney from 2022 to 2024 while working as a journalist for Professional Planner, a leading online publication for financial planners. Callum has written for Tasmanian Times since 2018 and has also been published in a range of other outlets, including Quadrant and the BAD Western Sydney anthologies.
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