You know all about Mofo already. The annual music and art party, held at Hobart’s MONA, has acquired mythic status since its inception in 2008—not least because it is hosted by eccentric millionaire David Walsh, and curated by the Violent Femmes’ Brian Ritchie. The Creators Project is partnering with the festival again in 2017—you can check out our highlights from last summer’s event here.
So what can you expect from the festival this time around? Try more than 200 artists from more than a dozen countries, including Azerbaijan, Korea, and Nigeria. What’s special about Mofo as opposed to other summer festivals is that the headliners tend to perform rare, experimentally styled sets that you won’t catch elsewhere—this summer you can look forward to Peaches covering the songs from 1970s musical Jesus Christ Superstar, Regurgitator re-interpreting The Velvet Underground’s debut album, and Mike Patton collaborating with Australian experimental composer Anthony Pateras.
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The main stage at last year’s Mofo
As we’ve come to expect from the MONA curators, the artistic side of Mofo is a multidisciplinary mix of performances and interactive installations. On what promises to be a wild weekend, festival-goers will enjoy free range of the whole MONA site on the final two days of the event.
They’re in for a treat—we’re particularly excited about Ruth West’s ATLAS in silico, which invites viewers to don a pair of interactive 3D virtual reality goggles and trigger deep global ocean survey sounds, a “wet analogue” synthesiser called cellF created from the body cells of Australian artist Guy Ben-Ary, a musical installation made from vintage synths from Melbourne’s MESS, and an “interactive endurance walk” inside a shipping container from Mick Douglas.
Guy Ben-Ary’s “Cell F”
If that’s not enough visual and sonic stimulation for you, Mona’s major new exhibition On the Origin of Art will continue throughout Mofo. Four scientists will act as guest curators, attempting to answer that universal question—why do we make art? The show includes 234 objects from 35 countries, as well as brand new commissions from some of the world’s most renowned contemporary artists.
Mick Douglas’ “Return”
Mofo includes events at places and spaces all around Hobart between January 18-22, and culminates on-site at MONA between January 20-22. Head to the Mofo site to view the full line-up and buy tickets—they’re on sale now. The Creators Project has double passes to the festival to give away, too. Stay tuned!
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