Fringe to transform Hobart park into a theatre of the absurd
A moving picture book, the collision between human and AI, and the theatre of the absurd. These are just some of the ideas being showcased at Hobart’s Dark Fringe festival.
Tasmania
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Tasmanian artist Sabio and her colourful garb give just a glimpse of the “foreign experience” and dreamland on offer at Hobart’s Dark Fringe festival in June.
As the artistic director behind one of the festival’s three components, Sabio describes the week-long art exhibition Rattle Ground located in St David’s Park as a “theatre of the absurd”.
“The park will be broken into zones for each of the main characters, and you will have live performances for the main characters in these zones,” they said.
“The park’s rotunda has 360 degree projection mapping as a moving picture book, which is an animation that I am making.
“The zones are a live performance of the stories you see projected from the rotunda.”
Sabio was the mastermind behind Dark Fringe’s successful art experience the Emergency Dollhouse with almost all of its 64 shows sold out.
Festival producers Sabio and David Male are looking to build on the success of last year’s debut Dark Fringe as well as filling the void of winter events with the pared-back Dark Mofo.
Mr Male believes that Dark Fringe will be an entirely different art experience for Tasmanians.
“That’s the brilliance of fringe festivals in their very nature, any and all artists are on show and bring something you could never even dream of seeing,” he said.
“We also have some incredibly brilliant international talent like Sabio on board who can bring the unique and experimental ideas to light.”
Other key events will brighten up the Hobart CBD including the Hallucination installation, featuring venues and artists around Hobart showing the collision between human and AI, as well as other major roaming performances and “activation projects” at various venues.
“Dark Fringe is guaranteed to have a different feel and different look every year when it has so many new artists helping to pull the festival together,” Mr Male said.
“We have a lot of interstate visitors already interested and buying tickets for the festival, but the key is for the locals to see just how many local artists and creatives are involved now to get them on board.”
The Dark Fringe festival will run from June 14 to 30.
Full list of what’s happening this winter:
DARK MOFO 2024
City of Hobart Winter Feast
Princes Wharf No. 1
June 13-16 and June 20-23
Gather around the fires under an obsidian Tasmanian sky and dream of spring’s embrace. Enjoy the harvest’s bounty from 80 stallholders, alongside a nightly program of music and performance.
Season passes $50, door sales range from $10 to $20 depending on the day, the Sundays are free.
Winter In The Garden
In The Hanging Garden, 112 Murray St, Hobart
June 12-23
A new program of vibrant music and performance across the two-week festival period. With Genesis Owusu, Marlon Williams, POND, Air Max ‘97, DAWS, Adi Toohey, food + drinkpop ups and more. Taking over the In The Hanging Garden precinct, there will be DJs, food and drink pop-ups, performances,and more, from 11am daily.
Night Shift
Altar + High Altar, 112 Murray St, Hobart
June 21 and 22
A writhing mass of bodies in a nightclub turned factory floor. Underground bands, late night DJs, art, performance, and dancefloors churn to the rhythm of the nocturnal machine. Clockon and get to work.
SOLD OUT but there is a waitlist
Slow Burn
Odeon Theatre, Mezz Bar, 167 Liverpool St, Hobart
June 15 and 16 and June 21 and 22
Step out of the throng and into the late-night cocktail lounge. The candle burns long and bright from midnight, in the Odeon Theatre’s Mezz Bar.
$50, Door sales only.
Namedropping
Museum of Old and New Art
June 15 2024–Mon 21 April 2025
Mona’s new major exhibition asks questions: why are we drawn to certain objects and people? What makes the big names big: Porsche, Picasso or Pompidou?What is the nature of status and why is it useful? Is it just culture, or is there something deeper?
Namedropping the Wu-Tang Clan
June 15-24
Mona presents one of the rarest, most valuable pieces of music ever created, the Wu-Tang Clan’s fabled Once Upon a Time inShaolin, as part of upcoming exhibition, Namedropping. For a limited time, visitors can see the album on display, with limited access to public listening events held in Mona’s Frying Pan Studios,
The album’s appearance at Mona is the first time that the album has been loaned to a museum since the original sale.
Genesis Owusu
The Odeon
June 15
From Smiling With No Teeth to Struggler, the chaos and ambition of his music is laid bare. Owusu (Kofi Owusu-Ansah) is a Ghanaian-Australian rapper and singer from Canberra. The ARIA charted artist is the younger brother of fellow hip hop rapper, Citizen Kay (Kojo Owusu-Ansah).
Tickets $89
Nude Solstice Swim
June 21
SOLD OUT
The Mona Gala
Fri 14 June
SOLD OUT
Marlon Williams
The Odeon
June 16
SOLD OUT
WINTER FESTIVAL PERIOD FRINGE EVENTS
Dark Fringe
Hobart, various venues
June 9-25
Art, music and immersive experiences
South 2024 Winter Film Fest
Various Libraries, various times
June 5-August 30
Discover a new film or revisit an old favourite on large HD TV screens and cosy spaces, with multiple sessions available at Glenorchy, Huonville, Kingston and Rosny Libraries.
Bay of Fires Winter Arts Festival
Panorama Hotel, 1 Quail St, St Helens
June 8-15
A winter arts festival held over the June long weekend in the north-east region of Tasmania. The premier attraction is the annual Bay of Fires Art Prize.
Bicheno Beams
June 29 to July 20
Lase Light Show, 5.30pm nightly at Lions Park, Bicheno
Fire and Mountain Winter Festival
Mount Gnomon Farm, 886 Ironcliffe Road, Penguin
June 9, 1-9pm
Join the community at Mount Gnomon Farm in Penguin, as their barn is transformed into a beautiful large lounge/dining room, with a roaring French fireplace providing a toastyambience. The event features a winter feast, live music, animal patting for children and winter craft.
Paint The Town Red
Southern Tasmania
June 10-30
Businesses, shops, and public spaces around southern Tasmania are getting involved by lighting up red. You’ll see red everywhere, vibrant red lighting, red drinks, red decorations and more. There’s also a photography competition
Dark Lime
The Twisted Lime, 112 Liverpool St, Hobart
June 14 and 15, June 21 and 22
Four nights across two weeks of themed MC and DJs.
SOCIETY x Mofo Masquerade
22 Montpelier Retreat, Battery Point
Sat 15 June, 8-11pm
Descend into SOCIETY in disguise to celebrate dark arts and dark drinks. With roving performances from drag doll Nikkie Glamour and burlesquebabe Bonnie Rogue.
Willie Smith’s Mid Winter Fest
2064 Huon Hwy Grove
July 12-13
It’s the eleventh and final Mid Winter Fest, presenting a time to reflect on winters past and old, celebrating together and being wowed as an emblazoned Big Willie burns.
Lightwave Festival
July 12-14
1625 Main Rd, Nubeena
Lightwave is an annual winter arts festival celebrating ‘people and place’ across turrakana/Tasman Peninsula. Three days of music and art events in and around Nubeena, with the main festival on July 13 featuring live music, food stallsand outdoor fires
Festival of Voices
Various locations
June 28-July 7
Festival of Voices celebrates the transformative power of singing that brings people together. Inspired by the age-old tradition of gatheringaround a fire, this Tasmanian winter event series has become Australia’s leading singing celebration.
Australian Antarctic Festival
Castray Esplanade, Battery Point
August 22-25
Presented by the Mawsons Huts Foundation, the festival has a broad appeal ranging from academia, exhibitions and displays, a planned ‘road show’ for regional areasand entertainment.
Dark Lark
Dark Lark Single Malt Whisky
Dark Maze
AMAZE Richmond, 13 Bridge St, Richmond
June 14, 5-8pm
Under the starlit sky, visitors can dive into the intrigue of the hedge and timber mazes, transformed for this event into a labyrinth of shadows and secrets. Each corner will promise a new adventure, plus a barbecuebuffet
CLOSET presents Dark Homo
The Grand Poobah, 142 Liverpool St, Hobart
June 21, 9pm—5am
CLOSET party organisers return to nipaluna / Hobart for the seventh annual Dark Homo, which promises to be dark, sexy, and full of surprises.
Midnight Ramen
Bar Wa Izakaya, 216-218 Elizabeth St, Hobart
June 21-23
Originally published as Fringe to transform Hobart park into a theatre of the absurd
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