Launceston’s massive February festival, MONA FOMA, has officially announced its full program for 2023 with around 370 artists spread across two weekends of lights tunnels, concerts, immersive art exhibitions and pop-up food and drink concepts.
The sinister stylings of MONA FOMA’s sister festival Dark Mofo, held each year in Hobart in the depths of winter aren’t for everyone. From the fire-laden Winter Feast to Wicker Man-style effigy worship, Tasmania’s ode to the winter solstice, spearheaded by David Walsh and MONA, has long been positioned as Australia’s most eccentric festival. And while the darkness can often overshadow the art institution’s other seasonal Tasmanian festival, there’s little denying MONA FOMA its moment as one of Australia’s premier start-of-year events.
For many Aussies, it’s pretty much the only time they’d ever set foot in Launnie. And it’s a good a reason as any next year with headliners Bon Iver, Pavement and Bikini Kill holding strong for fans of big-ticket indie music, taken on the side of numerous left-field art installations like an underwater soundscape, a multi-genre electro-ambient psychedelic jazz dance performance, a few world premieres, a film noir opera, a light tunnel and Sydney’s Chloe Kim attempting to sustain 100 hours of drumming over 10 days.
If it all sounds like a fever dream borrowed from the famously off-kilter mind of Marina Abromovic, that’s by design. By now you’re likely familiar with how Walsh and MONA came to serve as somewhat of an incubator of creativity and oddball art for Tasmania. MONA FOMA is the summer-themed expression of all that idiosyncrasy, curating a yearly program that’s amongst the most interesting in Australia’s ever-evolving art scene.
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Other big names set to pack MONA FOMA include Angel Olsen, Soccer Mommy, Peaches, The Chills, Kae Tempest, Perturbator and stacks of local musicians. Various concerts will take place in between pop-up experimental events which, in addition to those mentioned above, range from a “Complaints Choir” singing local grievances to a “punk bunker” – which quite literally sounds like it’ll be a bunker with punk tunes played at full blast.
Numerous films will be shown across the two weekends, the most curious of which is Martina Hoogland Ivanow’s Interbeing, an odd project that was made entirely using thermal cameras to shoot human interactions and capture body heat.
And when all the parties are done and dusted and you’ve had your fill of unconventional art performances, you can sit down and try to beat a robot at a game of table tennis at a pop-up experience called Anthem Anthem Revolution.
The list of events for MONA FOMA 2023 is obviously too long to get through in just one piece so you can check out the full program live on the official website below.
MONA FOMA’s first weekend takes place between Friday, February 17 and Sunday, February 19 while the second is squashed between Friday, February 24 and Sunday, February 26, 2023.
