Dark Mofo, decoded: What I’ve learnt from going 7 times

Curious about Dark Mofo? This guide answers the festival’s biggest questions.

I’ve been to Dark Mofo seven times. My first was back in 2014, the year after it launched, and I’ve been hooked ever since. The dark and decadent atmosphere. The cold spike of Tassie air coupled with a feast around a fire pit. The chance to see some of my favourite musicians play in quirky venues, and to discover new ones too.  

Visit Dark Park, a public art playground, during Hobart’s Dark Mofo festival. (Image: Dark Mofo)

A bit of background, I love festivals. I go to a lot of them and always have. But Dark Mofo fits my more recent resolution to retire from camping for the privilege; the beauty of a festival with events based in a city is that you can sleep in a proper bed, eat brunch and slot events in around it all. 

I’m also a Mona apologist. I love the museum that helped put Hobart on the map as a cultural destination. But I get that it’s not for everyone. For everyone else, it’s one of the most original arts festivals in the country. If you know, you know.  

The writer (right) first attended Dark Mofo in 2014, then in its second year, with friends.

Through recent conversations, I’ve realised that a lot of people want to go to Dark Mofo but don’t really know how to approach it. It’s not a one-ticket-fits-all kind of festival – it takes a bit of planning, program-studying and decision-making to figure out which days are worth the trip for you. (Not a doom metal fan? Maybe aim for the weekend that leans more towards indie rock.) 

So, I asked my colleagues and you, our readers: what burning questions do you have about Dark Mofo?  

What is Dark Mofo, exactly?

Festivalgoers exploring Night Mass: Exstasia I. (Image: Dark Mofo/Rosie Hastie)

Dark Mofo is a weird, wild and wonderful midwinter festival that takes over Hobart (and other parts of Tassie) for a couple of weeks each June. Think live music, provocative art, and late-night revelry that makes use of hidden corners of the city. A festival that feels like you are walking through a David Lynch movie. 

After a scaled-back event in 2024, Dark Mofo returns to full power this year between 5 and 15 June and 21 June. 

Today, a staple of Tasmania’s Off Season tourism campaign, which implores Australians to become ‘winter people’, the festival was first launched in 2013 as a winter spin-off to Mona’s (officially Museum of Old and New Art) summer festival of music and art, Mona Foma – aka Mofo. Get it? 

Mona Foma ran for 16 years before calling it quits in 2024, but Dark Mofo is still going strong. 

The premise has always been focused on celebrating the winter solstice, and the pagan rituals associated with this ancient Roman holiday are marked on the shortest day of the year, which falls on 20 or 21 June each year in the southern hemisphere.  

It leans into darkness with everything from naked ocean swims at sunrise to gothic feasts, flaming effigies and the odd controversial installation or two.

What’s on this year?

Find brushtail possum bao from stallholder South at this year’s Winter Feast. (Image: Dark Mofo/Dearna Bond)

Staple happenings such as the Winter Feast, the Ogoh-Ogoh parade and burning and the Nude Solstice Swim, all of which have become synonymous with the festival, are back.  

The music line-up is as strong, sultry and eclectic as ever: from Beth Gibbons of trip-hop pioneer Portishead fame and gothic indie rockers The Horrors to Gamilaraay artist Thelma Plum and experimental US act Clown Core.  

Nathan Maynard’s We threw them down the rocks where they had thrown the sheep is a highlight of Dark Mofo’s 2025 arts program. (Image: Dark Mofo)

Highlights of the arts program include a new commission by multidisciplinary Trawlwoolway artist Nathan Maynard, We threw them down the rocks where they had thrown the sheep, and Crash Body, a two-hour performance that sees artist Paula Garcia (BRA) and a stunt driver build to a visceral head-on collision.  

Dark Mofo Films also returns after a few years off, with a program of movies at North Hobart’s State Cinema that includes cult classics like David Lynch’s Eraserhead, Ted Kotcheff’s Wake in Fright and The Proposition, penned by Nick Cave. 

Where to stay

Find art in unexpected places; artist Ronnie Van Hout comes to Dark Mofo with Quasi. (Image: Dark Mofo)

You can’t go too far wrong with anywhere in Hobart. If you want to be at the heart of the action, Hobart’s CBD is the place to be, with hotels including Mövenpick Hotel Hobart, Crowne Plaza Hobart by IHG and Vibe Hotel Hobart all great premium options. 

For an extra-special CBD stay, MACq 01 Hotel, The Henry Jones Art Hotel, The Tasman and Moss Hotel are good bets. A little further out of town, the Islington Hotel in South Hobart has recently been refurbished and added to the Small Luxury Hotels of the World collection. 

Airbnbs are plentiful too, and the suburbs of North Hobart and West Hobart are good spots to look if you want to stay somewhere a little quieter with plenty of local character and don’t mind the extra walk or Uber ride to and from events. 

Crucially, though, book well in advance. Beds fill up fast. 

How long should I go for?

Portishead’s Beth Gibbons will be a highlight of Dark Mofo’s 2025 musical offering. (Image: Dark Mofo/Netti Habel)

I’d say minimum a long weekend. Ideally, a few days. Stay a week and you can really make the most of being in Tassie. 

Do I need tickets?

Chris Twite is Dark Mofo’s artistic director. (Image: Dark Mofo/Amy Brown)

A lot of the main events you might want to check out are ticketed, yes. 

Winter Feast door sales start from $10 (single night tickets available to purchase from the Princes Wharf 1 Box Office on the day from 4pm) or you can buy a pass starting from $50. Admission is free after 9pm nightly and on Sunday, 15 June. (Travel hack: guests staying nearby at MACq 01 and The Henry Jones Art Hotel can also score VIP tickets that cover paid entry between 4 and 9pm and guarantee queue-jump access.)

Night Mass – which runs from 10pm to 4pm on Fridays and Saturdays – starts from $149. Such is the intrigue around this one; allocation is already exhausted, but you can join the waitlist.

Gigs are typically ticketed, but there is plenty of art and activations around town, including public art playground Dark Park, which is free – just peruse the website and follow your feet.

Can I walk to everything?

Mong Tong will play Altar Bar at Dark Mofo in 2025. (Image: Dark Mofo)

Yep, most events and performances are within walking distance of the Hobart CBD, including the Odeon Theatre, where much of the live music is performed, and the waterfront, where the Winter Feast is held.  

Some events are out of town: this year, Dark Mofo events are also taking place at the Princess Theatre in Launceston and the planetarium in Ulverstone. 

I like art but hate crowds – is this for me?

Find some space to experience SORA by Nonotak. (Image: Dark Mofo)

Definitely. The beauty of Dark Mofo is that you can opt in and out of as much as you want. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure kind of festival. 

If you are not too keen on crowds, there are a few things I would avoid off the bat: Winter Feast gets very busy, and while it’s a buzz to have all those Tassie producers under one roof, it’s not like Hobart itself is short on great culinary experiences. You can still get a taste of Tasmania by making a few restaurant bookings and charting a course through the city’s small eateries instead. 

And probably swerve Night Mass, too. This late-night activation (in the past in the CBD, this year in a non-disclosed location) is a centrepiece event of the festival, but this feast for the senses can get congested in places as people queue to get into the rabbit warren of laneways and venues the event is spread across. 

But, from deconsecrated churches, basements, bank vaults and an old shipping yard that’s home to public art playground Dark Park, there are plenty of spaces to enjoy art away from the hustle and bustle. 

And having said that, it’s a well-organised event, so crowds never feel too hectic or out of control. 

What’s the deal with the naked swim?

People participating in the Nude Solstice Swim. (Image: Dark Mofo/Rémi Chauvin)

By all accounts from my friends who have done it, the Nude Solstice Swim is one of those life-affirming things you’ll be glad you did. (It’s still a no thanks from me, on account of the early morning as much as anything else.) 

This year’s swim takes place on 21 June. If you’re game, you’ll join some 3000 other festivalgoers (last year’s count broke records) to strip off at sunrise and run into the chilly Derwent River to mark the shortest day of the year. 

It’s free to take part in, but you need to register; get in quickly – the allocation is already exhausted for this year (but check back on the website where resales may become available). 

Are there naked people everywhere?

The Ogoh-ogoh Procession is a Dark Mofo ritual. (Image: Dark Mofo)

Not everywhere! It is the middle of winter in Tasmania, don’t forget. But I have definitely seen naked people at Dark Mofo – and I haven’t even done the Nude Swim. Most recently, in 2023, a kind of dark vaudeville act late at night in an old cinema space, we found on our way to Night Mass.   

What’s with the upside-down crosses?

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During Dark Mofo, Hobart’s waterfront is adorned with red crosses. Sometimes they are inverted, sometimes not, sometimes they are on their side. 

The inverted crosses caused controversy after they first appeared in 2018, with some members of Hobart’s Christian community describing them as highly offensive. Creative director at the time, Leigh Carmichael, issued a statement explaining how Dark Mofo has been exploring ancient mythology and religious themes since its inception. The next year, the crosses appeared the right way up. But the festival remains steadfastly provocative.  

The red crosses also form part of the ‘Paint the Town Red’ activation, in which many businesses in Hobart illuminate their premises to bathe the city in red. It’s fun and all part of the atmosphere. 

Will I be forced to join a cult?

The decadent Winter Feast is a highlight of Dark Mofo each year. (Image: Dark Mofo/Jesse Hunniford)

Not unless you want to! 

Can I go solo?

Night Mass, Dark Mofo 2023. (Image: Dark Mofo/Jesse Hunniford)

Many of the performances are seated events, and the installations and exhibitions around town and at MONA are self-guided, so going it alone shouldn’t present any issues. If anything, it can be better – a chance to go at your own pace while indulging any predilection you might have – whether that’s doom metal, gothic folk or xxx.

Most shocking performance?

You can expect things to take a weird turn at Dark Mofo, such as at the 2023 festival’s Blue Rose Ball. (Image: Dark Mofo/Rosie Hastie)

I’ll defer to my partner for this one – 2025 will be his 10th year of Dark Mofo, so he really has seen it all. Not least at Austrian choreographer Florentina Holzinger’s A Divine Comedy in 2023, which, led by an all-female cast, included everything from the dissection of a rat (projected onto big screens) to naked motorcycle stunts, bodily fluids, defecation, you name it. It certainly pushed the limits. It was all too much for a small number of folks who walked out, but for the rest, the performance wasn’t met with shock and disgust as much as bewilderment and ‘what on earth have we got ourselves into’, and an admission that it was like nothing they would normally find themselves attending. This kind of response is testament to the atmosphere created at the festival: people are more up for anything, more up for the transgressive than they might otherwise be. 

Weirdest thing I’ve seen?

Simon Zoric presents Coffin Rides at Dark Mofo 2025. (Image: Dark Mofo)

The weirdest thing I didn’t see was probably the artist Mike Parr being buried alive beneath a main Hobart road for 72 hours during the 2018 Dark Mofo. Underneath the Bitumen the Artist, as it was called, really did create a tension throughout the festival, and I appreciated it as an artwork that got people talking and made us all feel something. Even if that feeling was anxiety.

Hidden gems

Keep an open mind if you decide to go. (Image: Dark Mofo)

The hidden festival gems are the ones you can’t predict and stumble across in an abandoned old cinema in the wee small hours of the morning! Keep your eyes on website and social media updates, and keep your ears out for overheard conversations that might tip you off to something exciting happening. 

Dos and don’ts

Ogoh-ogoh at Dark Mofo. (Image: Dark Mofo)

Do plan ahead. You don’t want to have gone to the effort of booking flights and accommodation only to arrive and realise that tickets are sold out for the shows you want to see. 

Do pack comfortable shoes, a hat, gloves and coat, and an umbrella. You might find yourself hot-footing it between venues on Hobart’s hilly streets and – while I’ve had perfectly mild and sunny Dark Mofos – the weather in June can get cold and wet, so be prepared. 

Do take advantage of being in Tassie and plan day trips out of town on a down day. Hire a car and drive to Richmond, New Norfolk, the Huon Valley or Bruny Island. Go up the mountain. Spend a whole day at Mona. There’s so much easily accessible from Hobart.

Don’t plan too much. While it’s useful to go in with a plan, the magic of Dark Mofo is in the unexpected.