Hobart’s Dark Mofo is set to make its annual return next month, offering up an array of stunning events, performances, and experiences that are bound to provide something for everyone. To celebrate, we’ve decided to take a look at some of the festival’s best late-night offerings, serving up some of the best things to do after darkness has descended.
Dark Path
What’s more exciting than going out and experiencing the unknown? That’s the question that Dark Mofo asked themselves when they launched Dark Path, an artistic tour around the outskirts of Hobart.
Taking place between 5pm and 10pm most nights, Dark Path is a 4km trek around the city, exploring enigmatic artworks around the Regatta Grounds, Queens Domain, and Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens.
Snaking through bushland terrain, the dark trails will lead to a number of curious installations, performances and artworks, making for an experience that will stick with you for eons.
Night Mass
Let’s set the scene; it’s a cold evening in June, you’ve just checked out some of the finest music on offer, and now you’re left wondering what to do next. Thankfully, the answer is simple – Night Mass.
Self-described as Dark Mofo’s “liturgical rave”, Night Mass aims to serve as the festival’s afterparty, offering up live musical acts within the dizzying setting of an overwhelming sensory experience.
Spread across a number of different venues in one party precinct, Night Mass is now a Dark Mofo institution and just as much of an experience as everything else on offer, with music and art colliding in a manner that defies all explanation.
Featuring live performances from the likes of Sampa The Great, Mallrat, Empress Of, and much more, this year’s Night Mass takes place across June 14th and 15th, and June 21st and 22nd, kicking off at 10pm, and running until the early hours of the next morning.
Jägermeister at Night Mass
This year’s Night Mass is also set to feature a special installation from the folks at Jägermeister, who have teamed up with the festival to spearhead the addition of two unique bars in which attendees can experience the refined taste of the iconic beverage in some immersive locations.
Curated by Sydney party starters Soft Centre, these bars will be visually connected, but exist to serve two different purposes. The first will offer large audiences an opportunity to enjoy ice cold shots of Jägermeister in a unique, energetic setting, tapping into the communal nature of the festival.
Meanwhile, the second will provide a smaller, more intimate experience, reminiscent of the labyrinthine layouts of global nightlife hotspots such as Japan’s iconic Golden Gai, offering a rare chance to enjoy the spirit in a cosy, cultured environment.
Remember, Night Mass is an 18+, ticketed event, so if you’re old enough to join in the festivities, there will be door sales available and subject to capacity, be sure to grab your tickets from the Dark Mofo website, and remember to drink responsibly.
Altar
This year’s Dark Mofo is set to see a brand new venue open up n Hobart, just in time for some of the most exciting live acts going around.
Dubbed Altar, this new location is described as a “temple of live music, in the heart of the city,” and is “set to showcase a curated mix of emerging and established artists.” Opening just in time for the festival, and continuing to operate thereafter, this is an exciting opportunity for music fans at Dark Mofo to witness the birth of a brand new live music location.
Featuring performances from Briggs, Sui Zhen, Ecca Vandal, Pagan, These New South Whales, Author & Punisher, and Kira Puru among many more, Altar is set to provide something for everyone once the sun goes down, and the music-lovers come out to play.
Winter Feast
Alright, you’ve spent your evening soaking in everything on offer from Tasmania’s exceptional winter festival, and now you’re eager to see what fine foods are available for the sampling. That’s where the Winter Feast comes in.
Doing exactly what it says on the tin, the Winter Feast is not just a wide-scale banquet for hungry attendees, it serves to be as much of a spectacle as the festival itself.
With fire-cooking on full display and menus diverse enough to make a seasoned chef blush, the Winter Feast is a culinary delight for the foodies of the festival, with a new free kid’s cooking program and multiple guest chefs, this year’s event is described as their “biggest banquet yet.”
Taking place at Princes Wharf 1 on Salamanca’s waterfront from 8pm each night, June 14th – 16th, and again from the 19th-23rd, the annual Winter Feast is set to be one of the most memorable moments of the festival, not just serving to satiate that rumbling in your tummy.
Hymns To The Dead
When darkness descends, it’s time for the children of the night to come out and, and what better way to experience the evening with Dark Mofo’s Hymns To The Dead?
Taking place at the Odeon Theatre, Hymns To The Dead will turn the venue into an “international house of metal,” featuring performances from some of the wildest, loudest, and most acclaimed musical acts going around.
With appearances by Dragged Into Sunlight, Zhrine, and Heresiarch, and Australian exclusive sets from Funebrarum and Mystifier, Hymns To The Dead will serve as a showcase of dark, black, and extreme metal, complete with devastating rhythms, atmospheric frequencies, and one of the most immersive nights you’ll find anywhere.
A Forest
As the late author Ursula K. Le Guin explained, “The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty: not knowing what comes next.” Keep this in mind as the mission statement of Dark Mofo’s mesmerising event art precinct, A Forest.
Taking place in the heart of Hobart, A Forest offers you the chance to “lose yourself in a contemporary ruin of art, noise, performance, and the violent undergrowth of human nature.”
Occurring nightly from 5pm between 12 – 16 June and 19 – 23 June, A Forest is set to feature loud, contemplative and challenging artworks from the likes of Eric Demetriou, Meagan Streader, Paul McCarthy, and Shilpa Gupta, offering up an opportunity to experience art, sound, and life in a way that many would never expect to.
Undoubtedly, this is not an event for the faint hearted, but if you’re ready to expand your horizons and experience the uncertainty of life and whatever may come next, then A Forest might be just what you’re after.
The Dark Mofo Music Lineup
Whether you’re letting loose at the Night Mass, or filling up at the Winter Feast, it’s often easy to overlook one of the biggest drawcards on the Dark Mofo bill – the live music.
This year’s event sees one of the most eclectic lineups to date descending upon Hobart for well over a week of immersive sounds and experience.
Attendees will be treated to the presence of the acclaimed FKA Twigs, Nicolás Jaar, a long-awaited return from Dirty Three, along with performances from the likes of critically-acclaimed acts such as Sharon Van Etten, Augie March, Anna Calvi, and serpentwithfeet and John Grant.
Throw in stellar spots from members of Sigur Rós with Liminal Soundbath, Jónsi & Alex appearing with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld, and Borderlands, and you’ve got one lineup that you simply cannot miss.
Dark Mofo 2019
Fka Twigs
Friday, June 14
Mac2, Hobart
$99+bf
Against All Logic / Nicolás Jaar
Saturday, June 15
Mac2, Hobart
$99+bf
Nicolás Jaar & Group
Saturday, June 16
Federation Concert Hall
$59-$79+bf
Costume*
Wednesday, June 12
Odeon Theatre, Hobart
$49+bf
Serpentwithfeet & Kelsey Lu
Thursday, June 13
Odeon Theatre, Hobart
$69+bf
Jónsi (Sigur Rós) & Alex W/ Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
June 14 – 15
Federation Concert Hall, Hobart
$69-$99+bf
Anna Calvi
Saturday, June 15
Odeon Theatre, Hobart
$79+bf
Lonnie Holley
Wednesday, June 12
Altar, 112 Murray St, Hobart
$39+bf
John Grant
Thursday, June 20
Odeon Theatre, Hobart
$79+bf
Dirty Three
Sunday, June 16
1pm & 6pm Shows
Odeon Theatre, Hobart
$89+bf
Liminal Soundbath (Members Of Sigur Ros)
Sunday, June 16
Mac2, Hobart
$59+bf
Roger Eno
Sunday, June 23
Hobart Town Hall
$29-$49+bf
Sharon Van Etten
Saturday, June 9
Odeon Theatre, Hobart
$39-$79+bf
Phurpa
Thursday, June 13
Altar, 112 Murray St, Hobart
$39+bf
Night Mass
Feat. Mallrat, Sampha The Great, Empress Of, Ic3peak, Junglepussy & More
14 – 15 June & 21 – 22 June
Night Mass Neighbourhood
10pm – Late
$89+bf
Hymns To The Dead
Feat. Mystifier, Dragged Into Sunlight, Funebrarum, Zhrine & Heresiarch
Wednesday, June 19
Odeon Theatre, Hobart
$89+bf
Lucrecia Dalt: The Golem
Wednesday, June 19
Hobart Town Hall, Hobart
$29+bf
Author & Punisher
19 – 20 June
Altar, 112 Murray St, Hobart
$39+bf
Laterne By Berlin Atonal
Mac2, Hobart
Thursday, June 20
Feat. Aïsha Devi Ft. Mfo Present, Labour Next Time Die Consciously, Lucrecia Dalt Presents: Synclines, Vatican Shadow Presents: Media In The Service Of Terror & Puce Mary
Friday, June 21
Feat. Lee Gamble Presents: In A Paraventral Scale, Silvia Kastel, Marshstepper Presents: The Sloe Seeding Of Eden: A Starlit Enfold, Second Woman & Uf (Kerridge & Oake)
$89+bf
Teho Teardo & Blixa Bargeld
Thursday, June 20
Odeon Theatre, Hobart
$79+bf
Augie March
Saturday, June 22
Odeon Theatre, Hobart
$59+bf
Borderlands
Feat. The Sheer Frost Orchestra, Joe Talia & Eiko Ishibashi, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Lucy Railton, Kusum Normoyle & Stephen O’malley [sunn O)))]
Saturday, June 22
Mac2, Hobart
$89+bf
My Heart Swims In Blood: Van Diemen’s Band
Saturday, June 22
Hobart Town Hall, Hobart
$39-$59+bf
Kiku Featuring Blixa Bargeld & Black Cracker
Sunday, June 23
Odeon Theatre, Hobart
$39-$79+bf
Mary Lattimore & Julianna Barwick
Sunday, June 23
Altar, 112 Murray St, Hobart
$29+bf
Tickets available through the Dark Mofo website
