Step on board a ship to experience the art of Dark Mofo
The Dark Mofo festival is known for events in the strangest places, and for the first time, works of art have been staged on a ship.
The 48,000-tonne Spirit of Tasmania V will be part of Tasmania’s midwinter arts festival, docking at Hobart’s Macquarie Wharf.
Spirit of Tasmania V and its sister ship IV will be commissioned to cross Bass Strait in late 2026, although this is years behind schedule.
The ferry project hit headlines around the world after it was revealed Spirits would be completed before a dock in Tasmania was ready.
Spirit V may not be set up for passengers yet, but it will provide space for five large-scale artworks featuring robotic dogs roaming a field of sound and light by duo Lolo & Sosaku, and a text installation by Melbourne artist Chunxiao Qu.
Three video works on board will feature a techno-driven montage of Black life in the United States by Arthur Jafa, Brazilian artist Berna Reale riding a blood-red horse, and Guatemalan Regina José Galindo being pursued by a military tank.
Chris Twite, artistic director of the Dark Mofo program, said the Dark Mofo program covers themes such as technology, global politics and war, and if there is a unifying idea it is the power of external forces, both loud and quiet.
“There are moments of joy, celebration and ritual that play out in both silence and cacophony, and there are also moments of sheer terror and pain that play out in the same ways,” he said.
The 2026 selection also includes special screenings of a film created by French artist Loris Gréaud with US actor Willem Dafoe a decade ago, which is only allowed to be viewed by one person at a time.
There is also a performance by Belgian artist Ruben Bellinx called Stasis, a four-story ziggurat of tables and people held together by teeth.
Dark Mofo is famous for his boundary-pushing and occasionally controversial artwork, but he is best known for his Naked Solstice Swim, which returns to Long Beach to close the festival on June 22.
The 2026 Winterfest will feature Michelin-starred chef Floriano Pelligrino, while a giant totem of the Pedra Branca Skink will be sacrificed in the popular Ogoh-Ogoh ritual.
The music list includes New York underground hip hop artist Princess Nokia, Texas thrash metal band Power Trip and Irish-Chilean artist/producer Sega Bodega’s dance music experience UNADULTER8.
There’s also Manchester rock band World United Lucifer Youth Foundation, with the elusive band re-forming after more than a decade.
Dark Mofo returns to Tasmania from June 11-22 and tickets go on sale on Wednesday.
