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The Nude Solstice Swim has become an iconic recurring feature of the program at Dark Mofo
Credit: Rosie Hastie/Museum of Old and New Art
Dark Mofo, Mona’s winter bacchanal, has unveiled the full program of events for its fifth festive iteration devoted to exploring darkness and debauchery across a series of visceral art, music, dining, film and cultural events over two weeks in Hobart, Tasmania.
Taking place from June 8 until June 21, Dark Mofo 2017 takes ‘silence’ as its theme this year, though don’t expect a revered hush at any (or all) of the challenging events that make up its calendar.
“Dark Mofo’s aim is to provide an array of intense experiences across the darkest days of the Tasmanian winter”, said Dark Mofo Creative Director Leigh Carmichael. “The festival will be led by UK artist Chris Levine’s large scale laser work the iy_project 136.1 Hz, based at Dark Park, from which pure lightwaves will span beyond greater Hobart. This will be presented alongside one of our loudest works, Siren Song which is set to push soundwaves across the entire city, these projects alone should keep the audience, the organisers, and some of the authorities enthralled.
At left, Hermann Nitsch, critical founder of Viennese Actionism, will perform his sacrificial, animalistic ritual 150.Action alongside his disciples and an orchestra at Dark Mofo; and right, the scene at the Dark Mofo Winter Feast
Credit: Courtesy of the artist/Mona and Rémi Chauvin
“It’s also a great honour to be able to announce that seminal Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch will present 150.Action for the first time in Australia. This work will be extremely confronting and challenging, but we would encourage our audience to embrace the opportunity to witness the intensity of the ritual, in this one-off exclusive performance, unlikely to ever happen in Australia again.”
Other highlights from an extremely extensive and diverse program include the City of Hobart’s Winter Feast, a contemporary take on a medieval heathen feast; an exclusive performance of Empty Ocean by legendary Australian performance artist Mike Parr; an industrial-scale transcendental house and techno rave courtesy of Red Bull Music Academy: Transliminal; an exclusive performance from Scottish art-rock gods Mogwai; a performance from A.B. Original supported by Thelma Plum; and Angelo Badalamenti’s haunting score of Twin Peaks performed by experimental ensemble Xiu Xiu and set to footage from the original series, just in time for its return.
Chris Levine’s iy_project 10 kilometre-reaching lasers will create intersections “that reflect the science of particle physics and sacred geometry”
Credit: Courtesy of the artist
The festival will also celebrate the return of two iconic events: the Nude Solstice Swim, which entails exactly what you think it would; and Welcome Stranger, which, for the uninitiated, is a multi-venue experiential and participatory art party where guests are able to enter private clubs, hotel rooms and disused venues around an entire Hobart city block in search of “feminist punk, avant-choreography, ecosexual bathing, and woodchopping”. Wild.
Tickets for Dark Mofo are on sale now. You can find out more information here.
Tile and cover image: MONA/Rémi Chauvin, 2014
