In the Dark Museum, when Lismore’s dark scientist and performer Ana Wojak lifts a silver dome from a platter, there’s no telling what will happen next.

It’s part of a secret installation set up inside the dungeons of Lismore’s Conservatorium of Music as part of the Dark Science Festival this coming weekend.

The underside of the building has been transformed into a dark museum where each room houses an interactive experience with the dark sciences which Ms Wojak describes as a “sensory experience of sights, sounds and smells”.

“I’ll be one of the exhibits on show and there’s no touching the exhibits,” Ms Wojak said.

Celebrating her love of dead things and the beauty of decay, Ms Wojak said the performance will reference ancient Greek science, the Oracle and explore the wonders of nature and the circle of life and death.

“And also our fascination with technology and its brave new future,” Ms Wojak said. “Even now, technology continues to be something scary –while opening us up to the potential of enlightenment, it’s still frightening because we are now more aware of its potential for darkness.”

Ms Wojak will be performing the work entitled The Oracle with co-performer and sound artist Cloudbeard (Brandon Jaye Casidy) who will playing ambient doom music live for the show.

“I worked with him last year when we performed in Malaysia last year at the Malacca Arts and Performance Festival,” she said.

“Throughout the night, Cloudbeard will also be playing wooden machines he’s assembled out of found materials and you can be surprised at any time by him playing.”

(Cloudbeard performing live. photo by Michelle Vine)

Ms Wojak has been a performing artist for over 20 years and said The Oracle was first performed by her in Sydney at Elizabeth Bay House for History Week and it has evolved since then, going on to be performed at the Yoko Ono exhibition at the MCA.

“The first time I performed it, I was set up on a table and plinth in the courtyard at Elizabeth Bay House where the kitchen used to be,” she said. “I was dressed as a colonial in a time when men got credit for developing science and research, but a lot of it was actually done by their wives and women who didn’t get the credit. Women were known for needlework, so I explore the idea that it’s not just needlework – is it a science experiment or a healing? Each time I perform it, it changes for the event.”

In the Dark Museum, Ms Wojak will be channelling her dark scientist and will morph the show into the ancient art of divining from animal entrails.

“It’s not just pure entertainment,” she said. “Working with the dark side is attractive to me – creating an emotional reaction that gets people thinking. A lot of art is based on cerebral art theory, which makes it harder to go to the heart place.

“I’m interested in the visceral – the guts, internal organs and squishy bits, which includes the heart – I want to touch the brain through the heart and the viscera.

“That way, the effects of the performance are more challenging and can potentially call things to question. It will stay with you longer, stimulating you to think.”

She encourages people to take their time to look around the whole dark museum, with its specimens and exhibits referencing “allegorical archaeology”.

“Rather than being repulsed or avoiding the inevitability of death on all levels, we will celebrate in the beauty in decay ­– death is an inevitable part of life,” she said.

Ms Wojak said bringing the darker side of art and performance to Lismore through the Dark Museum is what Lismore is ripe and ready for.

“Lismore’s keeping it real,” she said. “We have a diverse and eclectic population and we’re ready and gagging for it. So many art gallery shows are day time experiences and family oriented, so it’s nice to have something for grown ups.”

The Oracle will perform at 6.30-7.30pm on Friday, August 16 and Saturday, August 17.

The Dark Museum will be open from 5-10pm both nights and will also feature a range of performances from Al Khem in the Alchemist’s Den, animated videos by Karena Wynn Moylan and the Corridor of Doom. The Haunted Clubhouse will also be crawling with kooky paste ups, DJs and performance art.

The whole Dark Science festival will take place in The Quad, Lismore as a celebration of Science Week. For more information, visit https://www.lismorequad.org.au/