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.

Rattle Ground creator Sabio who will perform at St. David's Park. Picture: Chris Kidd

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.”

Rattle Ground creator Sabio who will perform at St. David's Park. Picture: Chris Kidd

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