Journey to the dark side as Mofo winter festival returns

DARK Mofo will again be the hottest ticket in town this June, with Hobart’s internationally acclaimed midwinter festival returning with a packed program of Australian exclusive performances, cutting-edge arts and music, and plenty of unexpected surprises.

Matthew Schreiber’s interactive light show Ricochet.

DARK Mofo will again be the hottest ticket in town this June, with Hobart’s internationally acclaimed midwinter festival returning with a packed program of Australian exclusive performances, cutting-edge arts and music, and plenty of unexpected surprises.

The award-winning festival will run from June 13-24, with the Murray and Liverpool streets region of the Hobart CBD to be transformed on Friday and Saturday nights into a new multi-venue, late-night party precinct called Night Mass.

There, more than 100 artists are set to perform amid a sprawling nocturnal neighbourhood of cocktail lounges, clubs and the Bang Bang Bar — Dark Mofo’s Twin Peaks-style David Lynch tribute venue.

Batuska.

Legendary US artist, filmmaker, writer and musical maverick Laurie Anderson; Grammy award-winning songwriter and multi-instrumentalist St Vincent; Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq; and Crystal Castles co-founder Alice Glass headline this year’s musical program, which also features acts such as Einstürzende Neubauten, Rebekah del Rio, Jagwar Ma, Tiny Ruins and a special collaboration between Archie Roach and Tiddas.

Anderson will also collaborate with Taiwanese new media artist Hsin-Chien Huang on the virtual reality experience Chalkroom; and present Lou Reed’s immersive “sound bath” installation Drones.

The Rape of Lucretia.

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery will team with Dark Mofo to present the new exhibition A Journey to Freedom; while the Salamanca Arts Centre will host Invisible House, “a frenzied celebration of arcane knowledge, magic, science and the occult”.

The festival will also feature the Australian premiere of Foundation IHOS Amsterdam’s operatic work Backwards From Winter; a Victorian Opera/Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra production of tragic opera The Rape of Lucretia; and the physical theatre piece Animal, by Influx Theatre.

Archie Roach and Tiddas.

Dark Mofo favourites returning for another year include the ever-popular City of Hobart Winter Feast at PW1; the cheeky Nude Solstice Swim at Sandy Bay at sunrise on June 22; the Purging and Burning of the ogoh-ogoh sculptures; and the Dark Park industrial art playground at Macquarie Point, which will this year feature Australian-exclusive large-scale interactive works by US light artist Matthew Schreiber, London’s United Visual Artists collective, and more.

St Vincent.

Dark Mofo has been expanded to include a new prelude weekend (June 7-11), featuring the two-day literature, film and ideas symposium Dark and Dangerous Thoughts; several exhibition openings; and the mysterious Société Anonyme masked costume ball at Hadley’s Orient Hotel.

Since it began in 2013, Dark Mofo has become the state’s biggest annual event, with more than 80,000 individual tickets sold last year.

IHOS Amsterdam’s operatic work Backwards From Winter.

Creative director Leigh Carmichael said the festival’s sixth line-up was its “most expansive” to date, featuring a total of 750 artists and 22 exhibitions.

Alice Glass.

“The festival will showcase a powerhouse of headliners: Laurie Anderson, St. Vincent, Alice Glass and Tanya Tagaq, who will lead the way on our usual mix of extreme, experimental and eclectic programming,” he said.

“It’s always difficult to know exactly how the festival will unfold for the audience.

“We just strive to try and find new ways to experience the darkness, and hope that people will continue to embrace it, and enjoy Hobart’s longest nights.”

Pre-sale tickets will be available to subscribers from 6pm Monday, before going on sale to the general public at 11am Tuesday.

For more details, go to www.darkmofo.net.au

DARK MOFO 2018 HIGHLIGHTS

1 Night Mass, on Murray and Liverpool streets, June 15-16 and 22-23

2 Bang Bang Bar, at 112 Murray St, June 14-16 and 20-23

3 spectra, at Mona from sunset to sunrise, June 21-24

4 A Journey to Freedom, at TMAG, from June 8-July 29

5 City of Hobart Winter Feast, at PW1, June 15-17 and 21-24

6 Dark Park, at Macquarie Point, June 15-17 and 21-24

7 Invisible House, at the Salamanca Arts Centre, from June 14-25

8 St Vincent, at MAC2, June 15

9 Laterne by Berlin Atonal, at the Avalon Theatre, June 21 and 22

10 Societe Anonyme masked costume ball at Hadley’s Orient Hotel, June 10

Matthew Schreiber’s Crossbow.