For a very long time Tasmania had a reputation as an isolated, backwards hell island populated only by strange mutants (like the rest of Australia, but more), and it’s only relatively recently dawned on people that it’s actually a spectacular paradise of great food, great whiskey, great scenery and incredible art.
MONA, an art museum funded by one insane genius’s gambling winnings, is one of the best galleries in the country and plays host to some of the weirdest, coolest shit you will probably see in the country.
I went to Dark Mofo (Mofo‘s winter equivalent) earlier this year and at one point got loaded into a bus made to look like it was a hen’s night, taken to a hockey field in the middle of nowhere and watched a women’s hockey team perform a choreographed dance to ‘The Time (Dirty Bit)‘ by Black Eyed Peas until they were tackled by a pair of naked women, if that gives you any idea of how weird their shit gets.
The festival’s lineup is always super eclectic, and while you might not recognise some of the names, know they’ve been chosen because the performances will be crazy and interesting and will probably be something super exciting that is maybe a bit outside of your comfort zone.
Some of the bigger names on the lineup include Mike Patton and Maynard James Keenan (in t?t?ma and Puscifer, respectively) and Peaches, performing her incredibly-titled musical ‘Peaches Christ Superstar‘ in full.
Sink your teeth into the full lineup:
Puscifer, t?t?ma, Pantha Du Prince, DJ Z-Trip, Regurgitator & Seja & Mindy Meng Wang on ghuzeng performing The Velvet Underground & Nico, Kev Carmody, Alim Qasimov Ensemble, All the Weathers, Carolina Eyck with Jennifer Marten-Smith and Jim Moginie, cellF, Circuit des Yeux, Danny Healy Trio, Don McGlashan, Ellen Fullman with Theresa Wong, Erkki Veltheim Turing Test, Hinterlandt, Julian Day: Box Shaped Heart, Julius Schwing & Myles Mumford: Rust and Thirst, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Kelsey Lu, Mat Ward/No Mates Ensemble, Mdou Moctar, Moses Sumney, Nadia Ratsimandresy, North of North, Okkyung Lee, Overtone Ensemble, Phil Dadson, sonicsfromscratch, Rainbow Chan, Robin Fox & Byron J Scullin: M.E.S.S., Scot Cotterell, True Strength and Veronique Serret: A Stolen Satellite.
Mofo takes place in Hobart between January 18th and 22nd, you can find more info here. I’d definitely recommend hopping down to Tassie for this if you can, it’s a freakishly beautiful state and Mona puts on a hell of a show.
Source: Triple J.
Photo: Getty Images / Pacific Press & David Wolff-Patrick.
