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.
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Dark Mofo 2017 takes place from Thursday 8 June to Wednesday 21 June in Tasmania, Australia, delivering new wonders and new horrors, presenting visceral challenges and visionary art and music around the theme of silence. It appears that we’re going to make a bit of noise about it.
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Proudly collaborating with a number of Tasmanian organisations and institutions, including Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Contemporary Art Tasmania, Rosny Barn, Narryna, Salamanca Arts Centre, Tasmanian Centre of the Arts, Constance ARI, Kickstart Arts, Theatre Royal, and more, Dark Mofo is a project of Mona, supported by the State Government through Events Tasmania.

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Dark Mofo Creative Director Leigh Carmichael said: “Dark Mofo’s aim is to provide an array of intense experiences across the darkest days of the Tasmanian winter. It’s always an exciting time when we finally get to reveal the program after many months of work, so we are delighted to release a lineup that we feel is the most ambitious yet.
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“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.
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“It’s also a great honor 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.
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“As we begin our new five-year partnership with Events Tasmania, we would like to acknowledge the support of the Tasmanian Government, without which this festival would not be possible.”

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Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman, Minister for Tourism, Hospitality and Events said: “DarkMofo has been invigorating our winter since 2013, and the Tasmanian Government is proud to again partner with the Museum of Old and New Art to deliver the event in 2017.
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“Tasmania is stunning anytime of the year, but winter brings a magic and energy all of its own. DarkMofo gives Tasmanians, and indeed the world, another reason to emerge from hibernation – to take part in our spectacular winter celebration of art, music and food.
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“It has transformed Tasmania’s winter into a cultural beacon, drawing some 270,000 attendees, both locals and visitors, and attracting global visitors to the country’s southernmost state. It’s now our most popular annual event.
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“There is nothing else quite like the Dark Mofo experience, and that’s a great thing, because when the days are the shortest and the nights are the longest, it makes Tasmania the place to be. So – unless you’re stripping off for a daring solstice swim in the River Derwent – rug up and enjoy Dark Mofo.”

DARK MOFO 2017
LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT

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Mogwai* (Scotland)
Einstürzende Neubauten*
Ulver* (Norway)
Ulver + TSO: Messe IX-VI.X* (Norway/Tasmania)
Chris Levine* (GBR)
Hermann Nitsch* (Austria)
Mike Parr
Sound of Silence: Alfredo Jaar* (USA/Chile)
Welcome Stranger
Dark Mofo and City of Hobart Winter Feast
Dark Park
Siren Song: Byron J Scullin + Supple Fox
Red Bull Music Academy: Transliminal
Crossing
Unconscious Collective
Danielle Picciotto + Alexander Hacke
Miles Brown
Ancient Rain
Paul Kelly
Camille O’Sullivan (Ireland/UK)
Feargal Murray (Scotland/UK)
Hymns to the Dead
Taake (Norway)
Anaal Nathrakh* (UK)
Barshasketh (UK)
Grave Miasma (New Zealand/Scotland)
Mournful Congregation
Buried Country
A.B. Original
Thelma Plum
Sleeping Beauty
Victorian Opera + TSO
The Museum of Everything
Mona
Sophie Hutchings
Ogoh-ogoh
The Purging
The Burning
Borderlands
Alessandro Cortini (Italy)
Klara Lewis (Sweden)
Grouper (USA)
Lawrence English
Xiu Xiu plays the Music of Twin Peaks (USA)
The Second Woman: Nat Randall
Radio Gothic
The Dark Chorus: Lucy Guerin Inc
Luke Howard + Tilman Robinson
Dark Mofo Films
Silence: Strings of the TSO
Nude Solstice Swim
* Australian exclusive

AMNPLIFY – LJW