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MONA FOMA 2020

Published on 09 January 2020

From January 11 to 20, 2020

400 artists across 25 venues

Ain’t no party like a Launceston party.

Our summer festival of hedonism and hot stuff (aka music and art from around the globe) returns this January to heighten your high summer with: international piano superstars, industrial pop pioneers, intergalactic party shamans, punk cabaret performers, Australian music legends, masked cowboy crooners, inflatable technicolour temples, laser-and-synth psychedelic boat rides, and a rollicking, larger-than-life puppet extravaganza in the Cataract Gorge. Tickets on sale now.

Here are some of the highlights ...

THE FESTIVAL HUB at Inveresk

January 17 to 19
Three days at the heart of the festival
Full festival passes from $89, day passes $29

Acts include: Laibach (Slovenia), Flying Lotus 3D (US), MOFO's super-duper, extra special Friday night variety show featuring My Favourite Things, Aki Onda (Japan), Akio Suzuki (Japan), Ann O'Aro (France), Annette Krebs (Germany), Chai (Japan) Kiromi Miyakita (Japan), Holly Herndon (US), Interweave Arts (Aus), Jeremy Dutcher (Canada), Julia Drouhin and Emile Boudghene (France/Aus), Kirsha Kaechele Projects (Aus), Natalie Holstbaum and Joseph Hodgson (Aus), The Native Cats (Aus), O3 and Aviva Endean, Oren Ambarchi (Aus) plus many more.

Please note that QVMAG at Inveresk will be closed during this time.

The Big Bash League cricket match will be on Sunday at neighbouring University of Tasmania Stadium, which will mean increased traffic and pedestrian activity in the area.

KING UBU (MONA and Terrapin)

In the Cataract Gorge
Wednesday (January 15), Thursday (January 16) and Friday (January 17) from 8 to 9.10pm

Come one, come all, to our natural amphitheatre of rock and water (aka the Gorge) for a larger-than-life puppet extravaganza based on Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi: a wild satire of power and greed from nineteenth-century France, updated here for modern-day Launceston.

Locals and visitors alike are encouraged to attend this unique and amazing free performance on Wednesday and Thursday evening in the Cataract Gorge.

If you're planning on attending, you're encouraged to park in the Bathurst Street car park and catch the shuttle bus OR parking is at West Launceston Primary School.

The shuttle bus from Bathurst Street is a rolling shuttle continuously from 6 to 10pm.

You're also welcome to bring a picnic, however there will be a bar with a limited number of food vendors on site.

The King Ubu cast includes many locals and the traditional storyline has been rewritten with a Launceston theme.

The stage is nine metres high alongside the pool, with some characters up to 3.5 metres high. Any and all vantage points on the grassed area will be good. You can even watch the performance from the pool if you're brave enough - weather permitting of course.

Construction of the stage (between the pool and First Basin) is already underway. There may be some disruptions over the next week, however at no stage will the Basin pool be closed.

ARCHITECTS OF AIR

In Royal Park
Saturday (January 11) to Thursday (January 16) from 10am to 7pm
Friday (January 17) 10am to 5.30pm
Saturday (January 18) to Monday (January 20) 10am to 7pm

Make your merry way through a giant, breathing sculpture of colour and light—part technicolour temple, part inflatable rabbit warren—sprawled along the banks of the Tamar. With 19 egg-shaped domes and a colossal cavern inspired by the Roman Pantheon, this modern-day maze is named for the mythological figure of Daedalus, architect of the labyrinth that held the Minotaur.

Listen out for music created by Jim Moginie from Midnight Oil.

This is a ticketed event - $13 per person, group bookings of $10 each for groups of 4 or more. Sales available at the door. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

FAUX MO (Working 9 to 5)

From Saturday (January 18) at 9pm until Sunday (January 19) at 5am
Launceston Workers Club, Allgoods Warehouse and other back alleys
$75 plus booking fee (strictly 18yo plus). Includes light breakfast served at 4am

Go all the way, from dusk until dawn, as we take our chameleon club on an all-night odyssey of love and forgiveness. We want you from beginning to end.

ROAD CLOSURE: Smith's Lane (off St John Street behind Allgoods) will be closed from Thursday, January 16 at 8am until Sunday, January 19 at 8pm.

AMANDA PALMER - Confessional

Thursday (January 16) 12 to 4pm
Friday (January 17) 12 to 3pm and 10pm to midnight
Saturday (January 18) 12pm
in Launceston's City Park

Amanda wants to tap the Mofo zeitgeist— that’s you, actually, locals and interlopers alike. She’ll set up shop in the middle of town and invite you to share with her your thoughts, fears and stories. And then, as if by alchemical process, transform these confessions into a new song and perform it live on stage as part of her other show at Mona Foma, There Will Be No Intermission.