Mona Foma festival presents a ripper of a line-up, featuring international artists, free sessions, dance parties, and so much more.
Mona Foma is gearing up to be one of the highlights of the festival season, with a massive Tasmanian take over planned for February. With 370 artists set to perform across the two-weekend, two-city arts and music extravaganza, there’s really no excuse not to book those tickets now.
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Launceston, February 17 to 19
The party will start in Launceston with a free (!) event centered around the city’s new community hub, reUNIÓN district. Also known as the Old Tafe Building, the space will host a kooky lineup of entertainment bound to keep fans busy all weekend long, including queer woodchopping in the quad, a complaints choirs singing local grievances and punk in a bunker. Simply register for free on the festival website, and enjoy the festivities.
Fans can sit back and enjoy performances from hip hop poet Kae Tempest and Nashville’s indie-pop darling Soccer Mommy at the Old Tafe Sessions. Showcases will also be sprinkled throughout other venues in the city. Here are some of the arts-happenings that fans can look forward to:
Body Body Commodity – Arranged by contemporary dance artist, performer and choreographer Jenni Large, five female dancers animate and interact with a mass of pastel foam objects.
Floors of Heaven – UK artist Leon Vynehall will bump electronic beats while fans take a dip in the Basin Pool, one of Australia’s most stunning swimming pools at Cataract Gorge.
Van Diemen’s Band + Ensemble Kaboul – This performance will be a unique fusion of Afghani music and baroque, featuring the rubab, drumming, and boisterous vocals.
Out Loud – Jonathas de Andrade has collaborated with the homeless population of the Brazilian city of Recife to create this moving video work.
Breakfast in Bed – Half social experiment and half absurdist theater, US artist Kenneth Tam has formed a pretend men’s social club with seven guys he found on Craigslist.
The Director – Ex-funeral director Scott Turnbull teams up with artist Lara Thomas to demystify the death industry, teetering on the line between macabre, playful and tragic.
Song of the Sea Witch – Punk musician Marnie Weber’s seaside bliss is disturbed by birds in this blend of fantasy, reality, and a filmed trip to the beach.
Border Farce – Made in collaboration with Kurdish-Iranian heavy metal guitarist Kazem Kazemi who spent six years detained on Manus Island, Safdar Ahmed’s video work explores how music can be medicine.
Anthem Anthem Revolution – If you beat a robot at table tennis, you’ll be able to hear a new national anthem, made from the hopes and dreams of the children of our country and developed by hip hop artist DENNI, composer Thomas Rimes, TSO, and Dylan Sheridan.
CHANT – Willoh S Weiland collaborated with the Tasmanian women’s sporting clubs to perform protest chants.
Hyperbolic Psychedelic Mind Melting Tunnel of Light – Robin Fox hands over the controls—light, sound and motion—to one person at a time.
Christmas Birrimbirr – Made by Miyarrka Media, this performative documentary is made to affirm and share the Yolngu people’s take on Christmas.
Interbeing – Shot entirely on thermal cameras, Martina Hoogland Ivanow’s film shows the slightly eerie heat maps of human bodies as they interact.
Prayer – Participants prostrate themselves as they listen to James Webb’s recordings of prayer, song, and vocal worship gathered from across the state.
Lost in Place – I Hold the Lion Paw comes together with Yumi Umiumare and Takashi Takiguchi to mix ambient electronic jazz and live dance in the fluid, slow-moving butoh tradition.
A Dread of Voids – Performed late at night in an old church, five musicians will play intimate psychoacoustic works by Anthony Pateras.
Evening Hymn – US composer and pianist Nico Muhly pairs with the singular talents of local countertenor Nicholas Tolputt for a free concert at St John’s Anglican Church.
nipaluna / Hobart, February 24 to 26
Get ready for three days of unforgettable fun. The Mona Sessions will feature performances from internationally acclaimed acts such as Bikini Kill, Peaches, Angel Olson, Pavement, Jockstrap and Vieux Farka Touré with a host of talented local support. Bon Iver is set to play a stand-alone show on February 21. Here are some of the other performances scheduled to happen throughout the big weekend:
Songs for Freedom – Guided by Ngarluma and Yinjibarndi Elders, songwriters from the Pilbara town of Roebourne will sing for freedom on the 40th anniversary year of John Pat’s passing in custody.
Baby Girl – In Mona’s Nolan Gallery, Amber McCartney and Tasdance will present the world premiere of their captivating dance performance.
A Life Sentence with Nico Muhly – Mona Foma’s 2023 artist in residence, composer, pianist and curator Nico Muhly, joins forces with TSO Chorus for an interactive voice work.
The TSO plays Nico Muhly – The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra plays selections from Nico Muhly’s diverse range of works.
Primordial – IHOS Amsterdam presents a marriage of science and sound to be performed on a time machine that looks suspiciously like a piano.
A Deep Black Sheep – This film noir opera about a composer in an authoritarian state will also presented by IHOS Amsterdam.
Climate Notes – Taking place in Rosny Park, see five new works for violin and percussion inspired by handwritten letters from scientists describing how they feel about climate change.
Tomas’ Garden – By Cici (Xiyue) Zhang, this immersive and magical landscape of monsters and spirits encouraged viewers to touch the art.
Dumb Function – Emma Rutherford, Genevieve Griffiths, Jake Walker, Kim Jaeger and Andy Hutson put the ‘fun’ in dysfunction at Good Grief.
Pneu – A gallery space is transformed by seaweed-derived products, from the minds of Shimroth Thomas, Rachel Vosila, Joshua Castle and Conor Castles-Lynch.
Morning Meditations – Taking place in both Launceston and Hobart, this crowd-favorite event will start the day off right. Chloe Kim will perform 100 hours of public drumming over 10 days in the two cities.
The Party – The after-hours event will take place in the Old Mercury Print Hall. Partygoers can expect art installations, karaoke, DJs and live performances.
To book your ticket and explore the whole range of events, head here. Read on to learn about Mona Foma’s killer lineup of international musicians.
Soccer Mommy
Bringing that Nashville sound down under, Soccer Mommy’s sweet and soulful indie rock tracks will reverberate through the Old Tafe quadrangle. The 25-year-old artist is an impressive songwriter – her evocative lyrics have a nostalgic feeling that’ll leave listeners dreaming of high school crushes and late summer nights. After touring with the likes of Phoebe Bridges, Mistki, Frankie Cosmos, Kasey Musgraves and Slowdive, she’s no stranger to life on the road. She’ll be playing songs off her latest, highly-acclaimed album, Sometimes, Forever.
Kae Tempest
The ever-remarkable British hip-hop poet Kae Tempest is bringing their emotive spoken word performances to the Launceston Sessions, 18 February. Tempest’s raw recitations have brought them fame as a vocalist for the everyday lives of Britain’s overlooked or dispossessed, profoundly political and deeply human, as well as sharing immensely personal insights. They are an irrepressible storyteller, working across song, novels and theater, and an absolute showstopper at festivals (see: “People’s Faces”, live at 2017 Glastonbury for a taste). They will be performing songs from their fourth and most recent album, The Line is a Curve.
The Chills
A legendary band of the Dunedin Sound scene, The Chills has been frontman Martin Phillipps’ ongoing project since 1980, with a revolving cast of collaborators (they’ve tallied up a total of over 30 band members through the years). Through tragedies, world tours, flurries of productivity, Phillipps has held a musical through-line across seven studio albums, the most recent being Scatterbrain, released in 2021. With the last Australian tour cancelled due to the pandemic, this triumphant return will be the first opportunity to perform the album on Australian shores. Sliding between psych, folk revival, swooping strings and bright, jangly melody, Phillipps’ distinctive spoken song vocals on the album – part punk, part troubadour – underscore the storytelling lyricism. Catch them Friday 17 February in Launnie.
Perturbator
Paris-based electronic artist Perturbator (a.k.a. James Kent) will be bringing his synthy gothica to the warm summer Sunday in Launceston, 19 February. His discography is dominated by heavy synthwave and epic cyberpunk, like soundtracks to a sci-fi-noir film that doesn’t exist, a pulsing world of night and neon. However, the tracks he’ll be playing at the Old Tafe Sessions are from the 2021 album Lustful Sacraments. It’s a throwback to classic post-punk goth sound, brooding, atmospheric and personal – more vocals, less industrial noise. It’s a perfect love letter to 80s goth, and the ideal soundtrack for your hot nihilist summer.
Pavement
After more than a decade apart, Pavement have reunited (or re-reunited – they broke up in 1999 and came back in 2010 briefly). It’s been 12 years since the California-founded indie-rockers graced our shores. Pavement were influential on the American underground scene through the 90s, gaining them cult devotion. They recently marked the 30th anniversary of the Slanted and Enchanted album that marked out their slacker rock sound of fuzzy guitar, swaying melodies, bouncy bass, and Stephen Malkmus’ casual, almost lazy-smiling vocals. It’s a rare chance to see these icons in the flesh on Saturday 25 February.
Bon Iver
Bon Iver returns to Australia for the first national tour since 2009. Singer-songwriter Justin Vernon is still at the heart of the outfit, but the tour will bring his current band to perform at Hobart’s MyState Bank Arena on Tuesday February 21. The band has grown from a more solitary project of Vernon’s into the joyful, collaborative 2019 album. This recent sound takes a more experimental ambient route, while still maintaining echoes of that heartfelt expression that’s so characteristic of Bon Iver’s sound and storytelling.
Bikini Kill
Pioneers of the Riot Grrrl movement, Bikini Kill are returning to Australia for the first time in over 25 years. Having reunited in 2019, the iconic group are still the same core band members, led by frontwoman Kathleen Hanna with Kathi Wilcox and Tobi Vail. These influential rockers are still making the music scene a better place for women, one show at a time – bringing girls to the front, showing that an unapologetic feminist shout needs to be louder than ever. They’re kicking off their Australian tour with an unmissable show at Mona on Sunday 26 February.
Angel Olsen
If you’ve seen Angel Olsen before, you haven’t seen her like this. Big Time, the sixth studio album from the Missouri singer-songwriter is something of a departure. Spurred by a series of losses and seismic life changes, this album channels Country Americana – she was particularly deep into 70s country music during the pandemic years. This retro sound finds its way onto the album, creating ghostly echoes as she croons, glides and waltzes through pared back, vocal-forward arrangements. It’s an album of both grief and the celebration of her now-open queerness, and beauty, love and sorrow are entwined. Prepare your heart for the 25 February session at Mona.
Peaches
Feminist, electropop sexual powerhouse Peaches will be seducing audiences at the Mona Sessions, with her pulsing, swinging, shouting, chanting electroclash. It’s the 20th anniversary of The Teaches of Peaches, and it’s time to party. She’s only grown stronger and more vibrant as an artist, and her show on Friday 24 February is the perfect time to witness it. Icon and provocateur, she’ll be doing what she does best: embodying an extravaganza and leading us on that timeless urge to Fuck The Pain Away. Come and adore her.
Jockstrap
The British electro duo is not to be missed. Georgia Ellery’s crystal-clear vocals are fused with Taylor Skye’s experimental pop production to create a fragile, haunting atmosphere that will captivate anyone with the privilege to see them perform live. The two met at London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2016 and have been making music together ever since. Their long-awaited album, I Love You Jennifer B, was released earlier this year.
Vieux Farka Touré
Hailing from Mali, Vieux Farka Touré is the son of the legendary guitarist Ali Farka Touré, who defied his family’s lineage as a tribe of soldiers and went on to pursue music instead. His son carries on his legacy, creating a unique blend of West African and American blues sounds. The artist aspires to make a difference with his music and has led campaigns that have brought mosquito nets, school supplies and musical instruments to the people of his home country. His groovy, soulful tracks have reached from the Billboard charts to the stages of the FIFA World Cup, and are now en route to our very own Tassy.
Mona Foma will take place in Launceston from February 17 to 19 and in Hobart from February 24 to 26. For more information, head to the Mona Foma website here.
