Mona Foma will present two weekends of unbridled music, art, and mayhem in February 2023.
There are 370 artists playing across both weekends in Launceston and Hobart. Launceston will play host to a massive free party weekend, centred around the new hub reUNIÓN district (known to locals as the Old Tafe Building). There will be a Complaints Choir will sing local Launceston grievances, queer woodchopping in the quad, Nashville indie darling Soccer Mommy, lyrical hip hop poet Kae Tempest, and a punk bunker of punk in a bunker.
Meanwhile, Hobart will offer up three stunning summer nights of Mona Sessions featuring Peaches, Bikini Kill, Pavement, Angel Olsen, Jockstrap, and Vieux Farka Toure. Joining these artists will be Australian performers Kutcha Edwards, Miss Kaninna and Shoeb Ahmad. . . Following the mid-week Bon Iver show.
The 2023 artist in residence is US composer, pianist and curator Nico Muhly, who will deliver a triple treat of performances including a concert with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra. ‘Songs Of Freedom’ will pay tribute to the family of John Pat, 40 years after his passing in custody.
“After a couple of hairy but exhilarating years due to you-know-what, Mona Foma is back with all guns blazing, international artists returning to the party and a two-pronged approach to Launceston and nipaluna / Hobart,” Mona Foma Artistic Director Brian Ritchie says.
“Launceston’s hub experience is a vibrant, complex, immersive and FREE display of art and performance in the old Tafe building—reUNIÓN district. nipaluna / Hobart has a formidable array of concert experiences. Sprinkled around both cities are satellite events. Enjoy two radically different but equally enjoyable experiences by attending in both Launceston and nipaluna / Hobart.”
The festival’s programme kicks off in Launceston. ‘Fantastic Futures’ and The Old Tafe Sessions are the dual pillars of happenings at the new hub. Other events include Jenni Large’s dance work ‘Body Body Commodity’, and Persia meets Afghanistan when Van Diemen’s Band joins Ensemble Kaboul.
Ex-funeral director Scott Turnbull and artist Lara Thomas present ‘The Director’, while punk musician Marnie Weber brings ‘Song Of The Sea Witch’ and Pony Express brings ‘The Queer Woodchop’.
James Webb’s ‘Prayer’ requires participants to prostrate themselves to listen to recordings of prayer, song, and vocal worship. I Hold The Lion’s Paw, Yumi Umiumare, and Takashi Takiguchi’s ‘Lost In Place’ features durational performances of electro-ambient psychedelic jazz accompanied by live dance.
Beyond the Mona Foma hub at reUNIÓN district, Cataract Gorge offers a backdrop for punters to submerge themselves in arguably one of Australia’s most stunning and iconic swimming pools, to discover the sounds of electronic UK artist Leon Vynehall’s ‘Floors Of Heaven’.
Down in Hobart, Bon Iver will play from every warm corner of their Grammy-winning discography for one night. Mona Sessions features a line-up including Bikini Kill, Peaches, Pavement, Angel Olsen, Jockstrap, Vieux Farka Touré, Kutcha Edwards, Miss Kaninna, Van Deimen’s Band + Ensemble Kaboul, Shoeb Ahmad and Chloe Kim.
Mona Foma takes place in Launceston 17-19 February and Hobart 24-26 February.
