More than 400 artists perform across 25 venues in Launceston as MONA FOMO unwraps its 2020 programme.
The 12th instalment of Mona Foma features pop pioneers, party-starters, piano superstars, punks and puppets – and that's just to start with.
"Mona Foma 2020 finds us using one of the most beautiful urban nature sites in Australia — Cataract Gorge — as the backdrop for a radical reinvention of the absurdist play 'King Ubu' by Alfred Jarry, which has been adapted to a modern day Launceston," Brian Ritchie, Mona Foma Curator, says.
"We'll be visited by musicians and artists from Slovenia, Japan, Arnhem Land, United States, Hobart and many other places. And, of course, we'll be tying it all together with amazing food and drink, plus a talking compost heap."
Musical highlights at Mona Foma’s Festival Hub in Inveresk include Slovenia’s industrial pop pioneers Laibach performing their boundary-pushing take on 'The Sound Of Music', as well as favourites from their four-decades-long musical career.
Japanese girl power band Chai brings its joyous riot of pop, punk and rock, while masked outlaw cowboy crooner Orville Peck will sing from his debut album of heartbreak and revenge, 'Pony'. LA party shaman Flying Lotus 3D will treat festival-goers to his psychedelic odyssey of jazz-funk, hip hop and intergalactic eye candy.
Berlin-based Holly Herndon will perform with Spawn — her affectionately named, self-designed, artificially intelligent 'baby' — to create an electronic pop ensemble of real and synthetic voices. Meanwhile, Tim Hecker and the Konoyo Ensemble will turn their attention to the ancient music of the Japanese royal court.
The Friday evening showcase event, 'My Favourite Things', will see festival musicians and artists, including Amanda Palmer, pay tribute to the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic with a collection of unusual renditions and unique responses.
Celebrated Melbourne choreographers Jo Lloyd and Deanne Butterworth will be joined by Mofo alumni Evelyn Ida Morris and Tina Havelock Stevens—each on drums—in the work 'Double Double'. Local dance legends Tasdance and Stompin will collaborate for the very first time to present the spontaneous and chaotic performance, 'Reactor'.
In a world premiere, a modern-day Launceston adaptation of 'King Ubu' will be performed by giant puppets in the iconic Cataract Gorge. Based on Alfred Jarry’s 'Ubu Roi', a satire of power and greed from nineteenth-century France, this larger-than-life extravaganza will be staged by Mona Foma and Terrapin in the natural amphitheatre of Gorge’s First Basin.
MONA FOMA extends beyond the Festival Hub into venues across Launceston over the ten days.
