The Australian performance artist will bid farewell to fresh air on Thursday night when he enters a specially-made container fitted with an exhaust fan.

The road above will be re-sealed with bitumen and traffic will continue as normal, inches above Parr.

He won't resurface until Sunday night.

Parr, 73, is no stranger to confronting artworks, having once hacked a prosthetic arm with an axe in front of an audience who thought it was his own.

His latest work as part of Tasmania's annual Dark Mofo festival aims to acknowledge colonial violence in the 19th century, particularly the near-annihilation of Tasmania's indigenous population.

"It is a story that is not well known, but is ever-present, just beneath the surface of our contemporary culture," Dark Mofo creative director Leigh Carmichael said.

Signs will be put up to let people know Parr is underneath Macquarie Street in the city centre.

Dark Mofo, produced by the Museum of Old and New Art, is no stranger to odd performances, having last year copped criticism from animal rights groups over a bloody sacrificial ritual that included a bull carcass.

Australian Associated Press