Dark Mofo: Leigh Carmichael stepping down as creative director, taking on new DarkLab role

The man behind Dark Mofo, Leigh Carmichael, is set to hand over the reins after a decade in the job and assume a new role at the MONA offshoot he established in 2016.

Leigh Carmichael, the creative mind behind Dark Mofo, will no longer oversee the festival after spending the past decade meticulously curating its program.

While he says he will still be “somewhat involved” with the event, Mr Carmichael believes the time is right for “renewal”.

“I’m not running out of ideas,” he told the Mercury. “Darkness, I think, could be explored for the rest of our lives and not even scratch the surface.”

Leigh Carmichael creative director of Dark Mofo arts festival in Tasmania is stepping down from his role after guiding the festival for many years. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“But I think it’s important now after 10 festivals, 10 years, to hand over the reins to someone else with new younger energy to drive it forward for the next 10.”

Mr Carmichael will lead the festival team for the final time next year, with the 2023 event to be held from June 8-22.

The Mercury can exclusively reveal that DarkLab has begun its search for a new creative director to helm the enormously successful winter festival from the 2024 event onwards and is hoping to attract applicants from across the globe.

Mr Carmichael, who has worked for Moorilla and the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) for 18 years and helped spearhead the first five Mona Foma festivals, will continue as director of DarkLab, which is an offshoot of MONA.

“I’ve been wondering whether or not now is the time to try something completely new,” he said. “And I’ve been thinking about it for a few years.”

“But I think the decision that I’ve made is that I’m committed to MONA.

“[MONA founder] David Walsh is continuing to expand on the museum – new tunnels, major art projects – and the projects within DarkLab are exciting enough for me to want to see them through, which means I am committed for 5-10 years.

“I guess that’s what this is about, setting up DarkLab for that next period. And also allowing the festival to grow and thrive and remain relevant and new and hopefully brave.”

In his new role, Mr Carmichael will focus on delivering large-scale, permanent cultural projects such as Doug Aitken’s Transformer in the Huon Valley and the ongoing development of the In the Hanging Garden precinct in the heart of the city.

He will also step up his efforts to lobby for the development of new performance spaces around Hobart, saying Dark Mofo is “feeling the pinch every year”.

Mr Carmichael is a vocal supporter of the proposal to build a stadium at Macquarie Point, where the festival has held events in the past, and says he’s keen to play a role in helping develop the prime waterfront site into a thriving cultural hub.

Winter Feast, the food component of Hobart's annual Dark Mofo winter festival. PHOTO – Adam Gibson

He said a stadium would allow Dark Mofo to book big-name acts they wouldn’t otherwise be able to.

“We have discussions with hundreds of artists [that] … fall over for one reason or another,” he said. “There’s always one or two where you need to [sell] 10-15,000 [tickets] to make it. Their fees are massive.”

Pop superstar The Kid LAROI played at MyState Bank Arena – which has a capacity of up to 8800 – as part of this year’s festival, but Mr Carmichael said that whenever large events like that were held in Hobart “our transport systems fall down”.

A potential solution to the problem, he said, would be a light rail service along the Northern Suburbs Transit Corridor, running from Brighton to Macquarie Point.

“The light rail is not only a transport solution,” Mr Carmichael said. “In fact, the transport aspects, in some ways, are secondary.”

“It’s a project that could spark development along the corridor, along that track, for the next 50 years. That’s how I see it. Then allowing people to access services in the city and the stadium and other cultural activities.”

Asked whether the enormous controversy around the Union Flag artwork that was planned for last year’s event had been a factor in his decision to step back, Mr Carmichael said, ‘Not really, to be honest”.

The work by Spanish artist Santiago Sierra involved soaking a British flag in blood donated by First Nations people. While some local Aboriginal groups expressed support for the project, it sparked outrage across the country and was described as culturally insensitive.

Union Flag was eventually scrapped and Mr Carmichael apologised at the time “for any hurt that has been caused”.

Leigh Carmichael creative director of Dark Mofo arts festival in Tasmania is stepping down from his role after guiding the festival for many years. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“In some ways, it’s definitely made the risk-taking and embracing the more difficult topics around the festival harder,” he said.

“I don’t regret having to go through that experience, as hard as it was.

“A lot of good things have come out of Union Flag. We’ve made relationships with First Nations people that I’m absolutely sure we wouldn’t have otherwise. The Reclamation Walk was born [and] felt well-supported by the community and [is] a really special project.”

As for the rivalry between Dark Mofo and Mona Foma, Mr Carmichael believes it will continue beyond his tenure as creative director.

“Competition can be really healthy and can push you harder,” he said. “And I think the people that benefit out of that are the audience.”

“We can’t hide behind the fact that there’s sometimes some rivalry there. That competitive spirit is alive and well. I think David Walsh embraces that.

“It is motivating and we want to do the best festivals that we can.”

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Originally published as Dark Mofo: Leigh Carmichael stepping down as creative director, taking on new DarkLab role