DARK MOFO 2018

13–24 June 2018, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Program Revelation

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Sixth annual Dark Mofo

Prelude weekend: Thursday 7–Sunday 10 June

Dark Mofo continues: Wednesday 13–Sunday 24 June 2018, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Subscriber presale tickets 6pm AEST Monday 9 April

Tickets on sale 11am AEST Tuesday 10 April www.darkmofo.net.au

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Highlights (*Australian exclusive)

ART: Lou Reed Drones*, Ryoji Ikeda* (JPN), United Visual Artists* (GBR), ZERO at Mona, A Journey to Freedom at TMAG, Matthew Schreiber* (USA), French & Mottershead* (GBR), Chalkroom (Laurie Anderson + Hsin-Chien Huang)*, Soda_Jerk,Terrapin Puppet Theatre*, more

MUSIC: Laurie Anderson (USA), Tanya Tagaq* (CAN), Electric Wizard* (GBR), St. Vincent (USA), Alice Glass (CAN), Lydia Lunch (USA), Zola Jesus (USA), Nobody (Willis Earl Beal)* (USA), Jarboe* (USA) and Father Murphy* (ITA), Einstürzende Neubauten*, Blasphemy* (CAN), Batushka* (POL), Portal*, Autechre (GBR), Marlon Williams (NZL) The Haxan Cloak* (GBR), Merzbow (JPN)*, William Basinski* (USA), Rebekah del Rio* (USA), Iona Fortune* (SCO), Peder Mannerfelt* (SWE),Group A* (JPN), ALTAR* (Roly Porter + Paul Jebanasam)*, Pan Daijing (CHN/DEU),Demdike Stare + Michael England* (GBR) Charlemagne Palestine (USA), many more

OTHER DARK DELIGHTS: The return of Ryoji Ikeda’s xenon searchlight work spectra, a masked costume ball, multi-venue late-night party precinct, Twin Peaks-esque Bang Bang Bar, guest curation by Berlin Atonal (DEU), Dark Park, Winter Feast, Nude Solstice Swim, ogoh-ogoh purging and burning, theatre, orchestra, opera, more

Dark Mofo, Mona’s winter festival, delves into centuries-old solstice rituals, exploring the links between ancient and contemporary mythology, humans and nature, religious and secular traditions, darkness and light, and birth, death and renewal.

Since its inception in 2013, the festival has grown to attract over 400,000 attendances and more than 80,000 tickets sold to events last year.

Dark Mofo returns this year with a new Prelude weekend from 7–10 June, featuring new major exhibition openings of ZERO at Mona (Museum of Old and New Art) and A Journey to Freedom at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG), an orchestral quartet at the Port Arthur Historic Site, plus the new weekend-long literature, film, and ideas event Dark and Dangerous Thoughts, a masked costume ball taking over an historic hotel, and art exhibitions across the city of Hobart.

Dark Mofo’s full force festival runs 13–24 June with Australian exclusive performances, much-loved events including the return of Ryoji Ikeda’s xenon searchlight work spectra,nude solstice swim, the two-weekend, seven night Winter Feast, our industrial art playground Dark Park with its ogoh-ogoh purging and burning, the multi-venue late-night party precinct Night Mass, plus large-scale light and sound works, and music ranging from doom and drone to chamber pop, ambient and noise, and a lot more.

Creative Director Leigh Carmichael said: “Dark Mofo is moving towards its sixth iteration, and we’ve pulled together our most expansive lineup yet, spread over three weekends and presenting more than 750 artists, 22 exhibitions, two opera companies, two theatre companies, one puppet theatre company, one orchestra, and a community choir.

“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.

“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.”

To encourage the annual winter pilgrimage, Dark Mofo travel partner Spirit of Tasmania is offering a special Dark Mofo discount on select sails between Melbourne and Devonport, from $85* per person. See website for more details. After docking in Devonport, take the Dark Road to Hobart, our curated guide for traversing the island and extending the trip.

Dark Mofo is a project of Mona, supported by the State Government through Events Tasmania.

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+ PRELUDE WEEKEND +

Thursday 7 June–Sunday 10 June

QUARTET FOR THE END OF TIME AT PORT ARTHUR

Olivier Messiaen’s haunting meditation on nature’s beauty, humankind’s ruin by war, and the ascension of the faithful to salvation with God—written and first performed in the Stalag VIII-A concentration camp during World War II. With Tamara-Anna Cislowska (piano) + Sue Collins (violin) + Sue-Ellen Paulsen (cello) + Andrew Seymour (clarinet).

+ Thursday 7 June, 6pm, Separate Prison, Port Arthur Historic Site, Arthur Highway, Port Arthur, Tasmania $29–$49 + booking fee

NANOOK OF THE NORTH TANYA TAGAQ* (CAN)

Journey to the Arctic Circle with celebrated Canadian Inuk performer, throat-singer, and Indigenous activist Tanya Tagaq and band, as they perform an explosive and elemental live score to a screening of Robert J. Flanerty’s silent chequered classic, Nanook of the North(1922), which documents the life of an Inuit family in the Arctic. *Australian exclusive.
+ Friday 8 June, 8pm, Odeon Theatre, Hobart, ticketing information to be announced

A JOURNEY TO FREEDOM AT TASMANIAN MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY
The story of human progress is one of emancipation—and incarceration. This new exhibition at TMAG gathers artists working with sculpture, installation, video, photography and virtual reality from Australia and around the world to break open ideas of imprisonment—from physical confinement in spaces like jails and detention centres, to the numerous bodily, psychological and social prisons we construct for ourselves and others. With Janet Biggs + Nicolas Daubanes + Mounir Fatmi + Shaun Gladwell + Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige + Ali Kazma + Rachel Labastie + Ricky Maynard + Robert Montgomery + Jean-Michel Panci + Jhafis Quintero + Sam Wallman, curated by Barbara Polla (Switzerland) with Olivier Varenne (Mona) and Mary Knights (TMAG).

+ Grand opening: Friday 8 June, 6–9pm,
+ Exhibition continues until Sunday 29 July, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart. See website for more.

ZERO AT MUSEUM OF OLD AND NEW ART 
‘Zero is the beginning.’ Major artworks from the Zero movement, shown together in Australia for the first time. In 1958 some students in Düsseldorf started to make art that ran against the style and feeling of the moment. This was Germany, in the aftermath of World War II. The mood wasn’t light. But for these young people, it was time to break free from the anxious individualism that seemed to oppress the artists of the time. This major exhibition at Mona presents a series of chambers, each an immersive exploration of an important aspect of the Zero phenomenon: vibration. Includes works by Heinz Mack, Otto Piene, Günther Uecker, Marcel Duchamp, Yves Klein, Heinz Mack, Hans Arp, Yayoi Kusama, Josef Albers, and many more. Exhibition concept by Tijs Visser.
+ Grand opening: Saturday 9 June, 6–10pm, Museum of Old and New Art, 655 Main Rd Berriedale, Tasmania, free with registration www.mona.net.au/zero
+ Exhibition continues 9 June 2018–22 April 2019 (usual museum opening hours and entry prices apply).

DARK AND DANGEROUS THOUGHTS LITERATURE, FILM AND IDEAS

Talk is cheap. Opinions proliferate. Our speakers live (and sometimes, are prepared to die) by their words. A two-day symposium of literature, film, ideas, and conversations, with people sharing their lived experiences of the complex moral and ethical issues evoked by contemporary culture. Curated by Laura Kroetsch and presented by Mona and Dark Mofo, with select sessions presented by Guardian Australia and films curated by VICE.
+ Friday 8 June–Sunday 10 June, Odeon Theatre, Hobart. More to be announced late April.

SODA_JERK TERROR NULLIUS

A political revenge fable which offers an un-writing of Australian national mythology. This sample-based film from NYC-based art collective duo Soda_Jerk is part political satire, eco-horror and road movie, and has been pretty controversial of late. It’s a beautiful bloody mix of the historical and the speculative, art house and grindhouse.

+ Screening session times + location to be announced. Contains adult themes, sexual content and strong violence.

SOCIÉTÉ ANONYME MASKED COSTUME BALL AT HADLEY’S ORIENT HOTEL

Check in to the grand old Hadley’s Orient Hotel for a night of cloaked exhibitionism, anonymous art, light refreshments and ritualistic madness with a riot of strangers. Dress to excess and come as you aren’t: shrouded in anonymity, disguise and transformation.

+ Sunday 10 June, 8pm till late, Hadley’s Orient Hotel, Hobart, $99 + booking fee, (18+) Tickets by ballot >> enter

+ FIRST WEEK +

Wednesday 13 June–Sunday 17 June

ALL THE THINGS I LOST IN THE FLOOD LAURIE ANDERSON (USA)
‘And we suddenly see: we’re drowning in our own stories.’ Artist, musician, multimedia maven, filmmaker, writer, and New York maverick, Laurie Anderson celebrates language and stories through live music, video, spoken word and electronics.

+ Wednesday 13 June, 8pm (doors 7pm), Odeon Theatre, Hobart, $49–$99 + booking fee

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RETRIBUTION TANYA TAGAQ* (CAN)

The exhilarating and multiple award-winning Tanya Tagaq—celebrated Inuk performer, throat singer and political punk—will unleash a fierce live performance of her 2016 albumRetribution, backed by a full community choir, gathering specifically for this performance. *Australian exclusive.
+ Thursday 14 June, 8pm (doors 7pm), Odeon Theatre, Hobart, $29–$69 + booking fee

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CHALKROOM* LAURIE ANDERSON (USA) + HSIN-CHIEN HUANG (TWN)
Fly through a shadowy city and navigate your way through a dark world of fractured stories and drawings, exploded clouds of language, and words that crumble into dust. A collaboration in virtual reality between pioneering artist and musician Laurie Anderson and new media artist Hsin-Chien Huang, awarded “Best VR Experience” at the 74th Venice Film Festival (2017). *Australian exclusive.

+ Thursday 14–Sunday 17 June,
+ Wednesday 20–Sunday 24 June, location, times and ticket information to be announced

LOU REED: DRONES*

Immerse in the sound bath created by the late Lou Reed’s guitars and amps, brought to us by Laurie Anderson and Reed’s friend and former guitar tech Stewart Hurwood. As 24 strings are activated by magnetic cones, they unleash cascading and colliding waves of feedback.Enter, sit, lay down, listen, meditate, cry, dance, chant, practice Tai Chi. *Australian exclusive.
+ Thursday 14–Sunday 17 June,
+ Wednesday 20–Sunday 24 June, location and times to be announced.

BANG BANG BAR

‘What year is this?’ It doesn’t matter, as long as there is a slice of cherry pie and some damn fine live music. Welcome to Dark Mofo’s Lynchian tribute venue, hosting intimate shows that would fit right in at the Twin Peaks Roadhouse.
+ Thursday 14–Saturday 16 June,
+ Wednesday 20–Saturday 23 June, Murray St, Hobart
FIRST WEEK ARTISTS:

MARLON WILLIAMS (NZL)
Make way for heartbreak, reverb and rollicking guitars from the Kiwi crooner who’s been described as the love child of Roy Orbison and Elvis.
+ Thursday 14 June, 6pm (doors 5pm), Bang Bang Bar, $39 + booking fee (18+)

BLIXA BARGELD* 
From whispering, screaming and creaturely noise to scientific theory, poetry and philosophical games: Einstürzende Neubauten’s leading man is here to push the limits of music and sound with class, irony and ferocity. *Australian exclusive.
+ Friday 15 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Bang Bang Bar, $39 + booking fee (18+)

BRUTAL MEASURES LYDIA LUNCH + WEASEL WALTER (USA)
The no-wave queen and legend of the New York underground will hurl spoken word anarchic philosophy with cryptic electronics from improvisational virtuoso Weasel Walter.
+ Saturday 16 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Bang Bang Bar, $39 + booking fee (18+)

SECOND WEEK ARTISTS:

LAURA JEAN 
Deep pop, dancing and the debut of Laura Jean’s latest album, Devotion: a new direction for the Melbourne artist formerly known for her folk music.
+ Wednesday 20 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Bang Bang Bar, $39 + booking fee

TINY RUINS (NZL) + JESS RIBEIRO 
The Kiwi psychedelic folk four-piece Tiny Ruins has collaborated with David Lynch, and tonight, will share the Bang Bang Bar stage with Jess Ribeiro and her hazy, brooding rock’n’roll.
+ Thursday 21 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Bang Bang Bar, $39 + booking fee

NOBODY (WILLIS EARL BEAL)* (USA)
An unsettling and soulful collision of synths, blues and folk from the reclusive artist Nobody (Willis Earl Beal). *Australian exclusive.
+ Friday 22 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Bang Bang Bar, $39 + booking fee

JARBOE (USA) + FATHER MURPHY* (ITA)
The American shape-shifter of experimental music, Jarboe (formerly of Swans, Neurosis), takes to the stage with Italy’s duo of occult psychedelia and Catholic guilt,Father Murphy. Both are *Australian exclusives.
+ Saturday 23 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Bang Bang Bar, $39 + booking fee

CROSSROADS: ALEXANDER HACKE + DANIELLE DE PICCIOTTO*

This nomadic duo has been on the road for eight years, searching for an artistic haven much like Berlin in the 1980s. Now, they’ll present a silent film of their pilgrimage—across Europe, North America, Australia and Mexico—set to a dark, acoustic neofolk live score.
+ Thursday 14 June, 10pm (doors 9:30pm), Odeon Theatre, Hobart $19 + booking fee

ARCHIE ROACH + TIDDAS: DANCING WITH MY SPIRIT
Celebrated Australian Indigenous artists Archie Roach and Tiddas hit the road to perform songs from Archie’s lost album, Dancing With My Spirit—forgotten for more than 20 years and only recently unearthed. Deadly Award-winning folk trio Tiddas (Koori English for ‘sisters’) is reforming just for this tour.
+ Friday 15 June, 7pm, Odeon Theatre, Hobart, $29–$69 + booking fee

ST. VINCENT (USA)
The Grammy Award-winning songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and David Byrne collaborator returns to Australia with her poetic art-house chamber pop, performing songs from her fifth studio album Masseduction (2017).

+ Friday 15 June, 8pm (doors 7pm), MAC2, Hunter St, Hobart, $99 + booking fee

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NIGHT MASS

Dark Mofo’s late-night party precinct surrounding and subsuming the Odeon Theatre. More than 100 artists performing across four venues above and below ground, connected by an inner-city laneway, a party carpark and a closed CBD street. Artworks, performances, cocktail lounges, clubs and liturgical raves, tucked away in a sprawling nocturnal neighbourhood. Worship the fullness of the night in our hidden city. Artists will be announced on the relevant day.

+ Friday 15 + Saturday 16 June, 10pm till late

+ Friday 22 + Saturday 23 June, 10pm till late, Corner of Murray and Liverpool Street, Hobart, $59 + booking fee (18+)

REBEKAH DEL RIO* (USA)

The dazzling chanteuse, songwriter and David Lynch collaborator (including appearances at the Bang Bang Bar in Twin Peaks, and at Club Silencio in Mulholland Drive) will take up residence at Dark Mofo’s Lynchian tribute Bang Bang Bar during Night Mass. *Australian exclusive.

+ Friday 15 + Saturday 16 June

+ Friday 22 + Saturday 23 June, Night Mass, Included in Night Mass ticket ($59 + booking fee, 18+)

LAMENT EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN*

A blistering requiem for the outbreak of World War I, written 100 years after its beginning, and will be performed live 100 years after its end. At last year’s Dark Mofo, Neubauten said they wanted to come back to perform this album, and so here they come, replete with gigantic instruments and industrial noise-generating devices. *Australian exclusive.

+ Saturday 16 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Odeon Theatre, Hobart
+ Sunday 17 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Odeon Theatre, Hobart, $49–$99 + booking fee

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INVISIBLE HOUSE AT SALAMANCA ARTS CENTRE

The 40-year-old Salamanca Arts Centre (SAC) throws open its walls, halls, and spaces for a frenzied celebration of arcane knowledge, magic, science, and the occult.
+ Opening Thursday 14 June, 6–9pm

+ Continues Friday 15–Monday 25 June, times vary, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart

TohuVBohu BRENDAN WALLS
A chamber of sound and light, where public and private rituals build to an ecstatic twenty-four-hour live performance for strings, percussion and field recordings, by local experimental musicians.

BARRY WILLIAM HALE AND NOKO
In NOKO mode with Scott Barnes, Barry William Hale enters into a trance state through esoteric art, occult rituals, live music and hundreds of audio-visual artworks.

WILLIAM MORTENSEN (USA)*
Grotesque and visionary photographic creations from William Mortensen, the man Ansel Adams once called “the Antichrist”. *World exclusive, with thanks to NYC’s Stephen Romano Gallery.

SAK YANT WITH AJARN OHR (THA)
Ritualistic tattooing on subscribed members of the public, by Ajarn Ohr, a monk and master of traditional Thai sak yant (or ‘magic tattoo’), combining symbols of Buddhism, Animism and sacred geometry. See website to subscribe, $400 + booking fee, 18+

AMERICAN MAGUS HARRY SMITH (USA)
This retrospective ponders the pioneering film works of Harry Smith: American filmmaker, painter, folk music historian and occultist. An Australian premiere, presented by Dark Mofo and Salamanca Arts Centre. See website for screening times.

CITY OF HOBART DARK MOFO WINTER FEAST
The gastronomical heart and soul of Dark Mofo is returning for its sixth iteration this year, taking place on seven nights over two weekends and consuming Princes Wharf, along Hobart’s Salamanca waterfront. The feast is a contemporary take on pagan solstice celebrations, as the community gathers around fires and under the stars to eat, drink and celebrate as the longest night of the year approaches in Australia’s southernmost city. Chefs, stalls, musicians, and menus will be announced early May.

+ Friday 15 + Saturday 16 June, 4–11pm, $10

+ Sunday 17 + Thursday 21 June, 4–10pm, $10

+ Friday 22 + Saturday 23 June, 4–11pm, $20

+ Sunday 24 June, 4–10pm, free, Princes Wharf 1, Castray Esplanade, Hobart
Free after 8pm nightly, and for under 16s with a parent or guardian.
Season Pass: Seven-night ticket with priority entry: $50 + booking fee. Under 16s free with registration.

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DARK PARK AT MACQUARIE POINT

Dark Mofo’s after-dark industrial art playground.
+ Friday 15–Sunday 17 June, 5–10pm

+ Thursday 21–Sunday 24 June, 5–10pm
Bar open until midnight on Fridays + Saturdays, Macquarie Point, Evans St, Hobart, free

UNITED VISUAL ARTISTS: MUSICAL UNIVERSALIS* (GBR) 
United Visual Artists return to Dark Mofo to present Musical Universalis, a spatial instrument that uses kinetics and sculpture to explore the connections between light, harmony and order. Eight orbs turn and turn in a darkened warehouse, manifesting the harmonic patterns of faraway celestial bodies in our solar system. *Australian exclusive.

THE PURGING: OGOH-OGOH
As the darkness sets in, make an offering of your fears to our Tasmanian cave spider-shaped ogoh-ogoh—a demon-like sculpture derived from Balinese Hindu tradition.

THE BURNING: OGOH-OGOH
Join the massive procession snaking its way around the waterfront to the ceremonial fire of Dark Park, where our ogoh-ogoh—and our fears with it—shall be commended to the flames.
+ Sunday 24 June, 5pm, Parliament Lawns to Dark Park, Macquarie Point, free

TERRAPIN PUPPET THEATRE: THE SPIDER AND THE FLY*
A free puppet show of Mary Howitt’s creepy little fable of flattery, charm and hunger, with sound by Dylan Sheridan and narrated by Rosie Grace. Bring the kids.

MATTHEW SCHREIBER: LEVIATHAN* (USA)
A massive geometric sculpture wrought from lasers and light, from the visual artist who was James Turrell’s lighting expert for 13 years and works in the field of light, architectural space and holography.

WINTER FIRES
Poetic lyrics go up in flames at 6pm nightly.

TALISKER DARK BAR
Come in from the cold dark night, for warming tipples, midwinter libations and gourmet toasties, courtesy of Talisker whisky. Enjoy live music, bring your friends and family.

WATERBORNE FRENCH + MOTTERSHEAD* (GBR)

Take a boat ride up the dead cold River Derwent, and listen to UK artist duo Rebecca French and Andrew Mottershead’s Waterborne: an audio meditation on the process of a human body decaying in water, dissolving and disintegrating, as it is borne through a deepening estuary and out to the sea. *Australian exclusive. This work contains graphic descriptions of human decomposition and is recommended for audiences age 10+

Thursday 14–Sunday 17 June, 1–9pm on the hour, every hour, Pennicott Wilderness Journeys, Franklin Wharf, Hobart, $29 adult / $10 under 16s + booking fee

Wednesday 20–Sunday 24 June, 1–9pm on the hour, every hour, Pennicott Wilderness Journeys, Franklin Wharf, Hobart, $29 adult / $10 under 16s + booking fee.

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+ SECOND WEEK +

Wednesday 20 June–Monday 25 June

ONGOING FROM FIRST WEEK:
+ Bang Bang Bar, Wednesday 20–Saturday 23 June
+ Waterborne, Wednesday 20–Sunday 24 June
+ Chalkroom, Wednesday 20–Sunday 24 June
+ Lou Reed Drones, Wednesday 20–Sunday 24 June
+ Winter Feast, Thursday 21–Sunday 24 June
+ Dark Park, Thursday 21–Sunday 24 June
+ Invisible House at SAC, daily until 24 June
+ A Journey to Freedom at TMAG, until Sunday 29 July
+ ZERO at Mona, until 22 April 2019

HYMNS TO THE DEAD 
Come into the crypt of your soul for a night of metal mayhem at the Odeon.
+ Wednesday 20 June, 7PM (doors 6pm), Odeon Theatre, Hobart, $69 + booking fee (18+)

BLASPHEMY* (CAN) 
Formed in 1984, Blasphemy continue to conjure the gods of war from the wilds of Vancouver. They provided the opening track to Fenriz of Dopethrone’s 2004 compilation album The Best of Old-School Black Metal, and with good reason. *Australian exclusive.

PORTAL*
Churning death metal as the soundtrack to your demise. This meditative nihilist outfit from QLD appears onstage dressed as executioners, to create cinematic horrorscape metal that paints the Sunshine State black. *Australian exclusive.

BATUSHKA* (POL)
In the name of the father: heaving, unholy black metal from this mysterious Polish eight-piece band. Pronounced ‘Batjushka’, the band’s Cyrillic name Батюшка means‘father’, as in Eastern Orthodox priest. Vibrating with Slavonic and Balkan liturgical chanting, be warned: this father is not Christian. *Australian exclusive.

NUMENOREAN (CAN)
Leap into the abyss with Calgary’s black metal innovators, whose recent album cover depicted a bloody child, symbolising the unfulfilled pain of living and how death is the true release from suffering. What sounds like Buddhist philosophy is sometimes simply atavistic depressive suicidal black metal.

SPIRE
Australia’s despairing and atmospheric black metal progressors head south from QLD to remind you of your place in the cosmic dirt. Prepare your psyche for the weight of communal laments dedicated to purposelessness (their words, no judgement).

ELECTRIC WIZARD* (GBR)
England’s Electric Wizard are the heavy metal innovators of downturned, grinding, monolithic esoteric doom, consistently redefining the preconceived thresholds of detuned guitar chords for the past quarter of a century. Their ninth studio album release, Wizard Bloody Wizard (2017), mixes Detroit garage sleaze with droning, drug-laced funereal metal and acid rock. *Australian exclusive.

+ Thursday 21 June, 9pm (doors 8pm), Odeon Theatre, Hobart, $89 + booking fee

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LATERNE BY BERLIN ATONAL (DEU)

A temple of experimental and electronic music, performance, and audio-visual art, curated by the German capital’s venerable advanced music festival, Berlin Atonal.
+ Thursday 21 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Avalon Theatre, Hobart, $49 + booking fee (18+)
+ Friday 22 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Avalon Theatre, Hobart, $69 + booking fee (18+)

THURSDAY ARTISTS

FIA FIELL  
Ethereal and unsettling synthesiser music from Carolyn Schofield (Rolling Mass, Jaala), melding lush melodic cycles, ecstatic drones and free improvisation.

OMELAS
Four electro-acoustic compositions collide with a live performance of an original opera inspired by Ursula K Le Guin.

GROUP A* (JPN) 
Heavy synth, minimal wave, noise, striking visuals and performance art from the Japanese duo. *Australian exclusive.

PEDER MANNERFELT* (SWE) 
Raw and brutish sounds from the Swedish synth savant. *Australian exclusive.

ALTAR* (GBR) 
An explosive performance of ritual system music, courtesy of Roly Porter and Paul Jebanasam. *Australian exclusive.

DEMDIKE STARE WITH MICHAEL ENGLAND* (GBR) 
This Manchester duo extract the best from ’90s jungle, drum’n’bass, industrial and ambient techno sound. They’ll appear alongside award-winning filmmaker Michael England. *Australian exclusive.

FRIDAY ARTISTS

IONA FORTUNE* (SCO) 
This Scottish producer brings enchanting sounds of the ‘fourth world’ into the disenchanted twenty-first century. *Australian exclusive.

FIS AND PYUR PRESENT 7 BLUE STONES* (NZL/DEU)
Gastric and sinuous sounds from two forward-thinking young producers. A premiere performance. *Australian exclusive.

DREW MCDOWALL PRESENTS TIME MACHINES (SCO)
A live performance of Coil’s drone masterpiece for hallucinogenic chemicals.

AUTECHRE (GBR)
The indisputable UK masters of dark and dimension-warping electronic music.

BORDERLANDS

‘The centre cannot hold.’—W.B. Yeats. Be consumed by transcendent music and experimental sound.

+ Saturday 23 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Avalon Theatre, Hobart, $49 + booking fee

WILLIAM BASINSKI (USA)
A solo electronic performance by the lionised master of minimal, experimental music.

THE HAXAN CLOAK* (GBR)
Electronica for the afterlife. The Haxan Cloak’s first ever and *exclusive Australian performance.

PAN DAIJING (CHN/DEU)
Explosive sound, industrial noise and experimental theatrics.

MERZBOW* (JPN)
Venture into the wilds of industrial sound with this prolific pioneer of Japanese noise. *Australian exclusive.

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THE SPEAKER (CHN/DEU)
Theatre of electronic sound, via one vocalist and a six-channel acousmonium (a sound diffusion system devised in the 1970s).

ALICE GLASS (CAN) + ZOLA JESUS (USA)

The Canadian electro-punk powerhouse Alice Glass, formerly of Crystal Castles, supported by industrial electro-pop goth Zola Jesus.
+ Saturday 23 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Odeon Theatre, Hobart, $59 + booking fee (18+)

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SPECTRA RYOJI IKEDA* (JPN)

Ryoji Ikeda’s spectra

[tasmania] appeared at the first Dark Mofo in 2013. Now, on the winter solstice, join us in Mona’s grounds for its return: a towering pillar of powerful searchlights reaching high into the night sky. Evening ferries will shuttle you to and from the museum – book tickets closer to the festival. This temporary installation of spectra for Dark Mofo 2018 will soon be replaced by a permanent version on Mona’s Berriedale grounds. Presented by Mona.

+ Thursday 21–Sunday 24 June, from sunset to sunrise, Museum of Old and New Art, free

BORROWED VERSE TINY RUINS (NZL) + BEN SALTER + ANGIE HART + EMILY LUBITZ

Australian and New Zealander songwriters and poets come together to tangle the traditions of music and poetry, with Borrowed Verse from William Butler Yeats and Charles Bukowski to Uncle Herb Wharton, Dorothy Porter, and Judith Wright. Featuring music by Tiny Ruins(NZL), Ben Salter, Angie Hart (Frente!), Emily Lubitz (Tinpan Orange), Nausicaa, plus poetry from David Stavanger and Graham Akhurst.

+ Friday 22 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Odeon Theatre, Hobart, $19–$49 + booking fee

BACKWARDS FROM WINTER* FOUNDATION IHOS AMSTERDAM

A tragic love story told in reverse and through the unwinding cycle of the seasons: from grief in winter to loss in an autumn storm, to the passion of high summer and new love in spring. Backwards from Winter is an operatic work for soprano, electric cello, video and computer. Composed by Douglas Knehans with libretto by Juanita Rockwell and mise en scène by Constantine Koukias. *Australian premiere, presented by Dark Mofo and Foundation IHOS Amsterdam.

+ Wednesday 20 + Thursday 21 June, 6pm

+ Friday 22 June, 9pm

+ Saturday 23 June, 6pm + 9pm, Hobart City Hall, $39 + booking fee

ETERNAL TASMANIAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA + TSO CHORUS

Timeless masterpieces from Baltic Europe, including Arvo Pärt’s heartfelt take on the centuries-old sacred choral tradition of the mass. Program: Arvo Pärt, Spiegel im Spiegel, Henryk Górecki, Piano Concerto No. 2, Arvo Pärt, Berliner Messe, Pēteris Vasks, Cantabile,Henryk Górecki, Kleines Requiem für eine Polka. Conducted by Johannes Fritzsch, featuring Tamara-Anna Cislowska on piano and the TSO Chorus.

+ Friday 22 June, 7.30pm (doors 6.30pm), Federation Concert Hall, Hobart, $49–$89 + booking fee

CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE (USA)

At the age of 12, he was bandmate to Allen Ginsberg and Kenneth Anger. Now, lionised master of minimalist organ performance Charlemagne Palestine explores resonance, duration and the transcendent potentials of music.

+ Friday 22 June 2018, 4pm (doors 3pm), Hobart Town Hall, $39 + booking fee

THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA VICTORIAN OPERA + TASMANIAN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

Written by Benjamin Britten, The Rape of Lucretia is a tragic opera in two parts, with the Victorian Opera joined by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, telling a harrowing ancient roman tale of love, sexual violence and despair. A co-production of Sydney Chamber Opera and Victorian Opera Sydney 2017 season presented by Sydney Chamber Opera and Carriageworks. These performances of The Rape of Lucretia by Benjamin Britten are given by permission of Hal Leonard Australia Pty Ltd, exclusive agents for Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd of London. Recommended for audiences age 15+

+ Friday 15, Saturday 16 June, 8pm, Theatre Royal, $59–$89 + booking fee

+ Sunday 17 June, 2pm, Theatre Royal, Hobart, $59–$89 + booking fee

ANIMAL INFLUX THEATRE

In a remote town, two sisters prepare for survival in a savage society, one punch at a time. An unrelenting work of physical theatre. Animal is performed by Influx Theatre (Susie Dee, Kate Sherman + Nicci Wilks). Contains some nudity, loud music and effects, recommended for audiences age 15+

+ Friday 22 + Saturday 23 June, 6pm

+ Sunday 24 June, 2pm, Theatre Royal, $29–$49 + booking fee

WILLIAM BASINSKI: THE DISINTEGRATION LOOPS
New York based avant-garde composer William Basinski created the four-volume album The Disintegration Loops with archived recordings of ambient music on tapes, which gradually decayed as they played, disintegrating with each loop. The result is beautifully hypnotic, and will be reinterpreted and performed live by an orchestra, closing the music program on the last night of the festival.

+ Sunday 24 June, 7pm (doors 6pm), Odeon Theatre, Hobart, $29–$59 + booking fee.

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WINTER SOLSTICE 
‘And reaching out into the deep darkness, he saw himself.’—David Lynch.

+ Thursday 21 June, 8:07pm AEST

NUDE SOLSTICE SWIM
Welcome back the sun, after the longest night of the year. Dark Mofo’s communal contemporary ritual, the Nude Solstice Swim, attracts more than one thousand brave souls to shed their inhibitions along with their clothes, and dive into the winter ocean.
+ Friday 22 June, 7.42am, Long Beach, Sandy Bay, free with registration

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SOCIAL

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#darkmofo #discovertasmania

www.darkmofo.net.au

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