If you’re looking for a holiday like no other – go no further than the return of Dark Mofo to Tasmania between Dec 8-22, 2024 as the festivities come back in full swing for this year’s edition.

“This year’s festival is a celebration of coming together again, to listen to some music, see some art and eat at the Winter Feast,” Creative Director Leigh Carmichael said. “As the cultural world re-emerges from the darkness of cancellations and lockdowns, we are all experiencing a rebirth, of sorts. The forced isolation gave rise to a re-evaluation of what matters, to new ideas, new dreams. We’ve assembled over 100 artists from 30 countries, from Australia to Belgium to Kyrgyzstan, and look forward to bringing them to Hobart this winter. We’re just grateful to be able to present a full festival program again.”

Last year, we headed along to take in the art, music and culture that Mofo had to offer in the midst of the pandemic and had a brilliant time in the process (especially when you take into consideration the sheer number of activities on offer). And this time, it’s all hands on deck!

For Week One – June 8-15

Punters can check out the likes of The Kid Laroi, Japanese noise stoner rock band Boris, and US artist Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (formerly of the band OM) will be performing his original score for Nia DaCosta’s adaptation of the horror classic Candyman.

Art-wise, Mona will offer three new major exhibitions by artists Jeremy Shaw, Fiona Hall with AJ King, and Robert Andrew. The exhibition’s opening weekend includes a big winter celebration at the museum— ‘Mona Up Late’—featuring music, fire and fun.

Dark Mofo is honoured to present works by influential video and new media artist Bill Viola, as well as sculpturist and multi-channel video artist Doug Aitken (USA). Jónsi (Sigur Rós) will present a multi-channel immersive experience inspired by the recent eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano in Iceland.

There’s also the interactive installation Rainbow Dream: Moon Rainbow by Japanese/Australian artist Hiromi Tango, Holy Mother of God: Emergency Doll House by Hobart-based Sabio occupying a three-storey building with a carnivalesque journey into the subconscious via projection mapping, sculpture, and animation and Sir Sidney Nolan will feature in the exhibition For the Term of His Natural Life at Detached Hobart, with works on crayon and paper addressing exile and oppression.

There will also be exciting exhibitions opening at partner venues including Contemporary Art Tasmania, Good Grief Studios, Black Temple Gallery, Plimsoll Gallery and at a variety of locations around the city during week one.

Week Two – June 16-22

For the heavy metal fans, Dark Mofo’s unholy nights of deafening metal include Sanctae Noctis with an impressive lineup featuring Deafheaven, Katatonia, Lingua Ignota, Conjurer, King Yosef, Black Sheep Wall, Diploid and YLVA, as well as festival favourite Hymns to the Dead (Triumph of Death, Chthe’ilist, Krypts, Darkestrah) making it’s terrifying return.

Plus an exclusive Australian performance by Swiss metal band Triptykon, driven by Tom Gabriel Fischer (Hellhammer, Celtic Frost). German electronic artist Nils Frahm will grace Mofo with his masterful array of pianos, synths, and drum machines in Music For Hobart, as will the sublimely radiating tenderness of American artist Perfume Genius.

American multi-instrumentalist Lingua Ignota will play additional shows, and a stripped-down acoustic and heavy doom experience will be delivered by double-billed American artists Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle – one not to be missed! Sonic Youth‘s Kim Gordon will rock out exclusively, as will British space rockers Spiritualized, and the slow-burning instrumentation and swooning vocals of Moses Sumney (USA) all come to fruition.

Four micro-festival evenings of experimental and electronic music comprise the program of Borderlands at the Theatre Royal Studio and MAC2, curated by Lawrence English (Room40).

The full programs can be found on the Dark Mofo website.

The festival also heralds the return of its two-evening nightclub extravaganza, this year titled Night Mass: Transcendence, taking over central Hobart’s In The Hanging Garden precinct, with a huge and diverse program to be announced soon.

Annnd not to forget – The iconic Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra will perform Angel’s Lament, centred around Arvo Pärt’s Symphony No. 4, with string, percussion, and harp, extending a hand in solidarity to those currently affected by Russia’s war actions.

But wait, there’s more!

Dark Mofo’s debaucherous costume party makes a return, this year titled the Blue Rose Ball. The highly-sought-after ballot-ticketed event invites guests to dress for dreaming. ‘It doesn’t get any bluer.’ —Gordon Cole (Twin Peaks). Start thinking now… This winter features the return of Dark Mofo’s intimate ritual Memorial, in which locals can bear their loved one’s ashes to the river and have them placed inside a handcrafted firework for the whole community to witness.

The Winter Feast will rise again on the Hobart waterfront with stallholders getting announced in May. The Ogoh-ogoh is also back with the festival’s Balinese-inspired community ritual to purge and then burn your fears, this year taking form as a giant Tamanian Masked Owl – a surprisingly cleansing experience!

And if you’re game, the Nude Solstice Swim after the longest night will no doubt have you feeling renewed, and resurrected – ready to that on anything thrown in your path… if you’re brave enough!