Launceston and Hobart will play host to Mona Foma, one of Australia’s most exhilarating festivals brought to you by Tassie’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). The summer festival has just launched its 2023 program and it features 370 artists who will perform over two weekends across the two cities. If you’re scratching your head, unsure of what to see, we’ve picked out a few highlights for you.

Bon Iver 

A huge win for Mona Foma, Grammy-winning, indie folk singer-songwriter Justin Vernon and his band, Bon Iver, will be travelling Down Under for a one-night-only performance at MyState Bank Arena in Hobart. There’ll be limited tickets to this show and are slated to sell out fast, so get in quick. 

Hobart Mona Sessions 

A series of summer evening concerts will take place on the MONA lawns. There’ll be live music across the weekend. The line-up includes Bikini Kill, Peaches, Pavement and Angel Olsen, to name a few. Heads up: entry to these sessions do require a ticket.

Launceston Old Tafe Sessions 

Say hello to an all-day arty party. Launnie’s ‘reUNIÓN district’ (the Old Tafe building) will transform into Mona Foma’s festival party hub. Evening concerts will be held in the quadrangle and raucous Punk Bunker. Artists to take the stage include Kae Tempest, Yirinda and The Chills. Entry is free, but you will need to register for a ticket. 

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A Life Sentence with Nico Muhly

The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Chorus and American classical composer Nico Muhly join forces for an interactive choral performance at The Ian Potter Recital Hall in Hobart. Here the audience dictates the entire program by choosing poems that interest them. The choir will then perform works in response to the audience’s choices and Nico himself will prepare a piece from a work picked by the audience to close the show. Tickets are required for this event. 

Fantastic Futures 

Curated by Mona’s senior curator, Emma Pike, Fantastic Futures is an exhibition that features works by local and international artists. The collection is presented in Launceston’s Old Tafe building and includes Out Loud by Jonathas de Andrade and Kenneth Tam’s Breakfast in Bed and will be free to the public. 

A Deep Black Sheep

Performing arts company IHOS Amsterdam bring a film noir opera about a composer and authoritarian state to Theatre Royal Studio in Hobart for this ticketed event. Live vocals and performances, mixed with projected film, blur the lines between performance and cinema. 

Mona Foma is in Launceston from February 17–19 and Hobart from February 24–26. Mona Foma tickets will be available from 11am on November 29 at monafoma.net.au.

Image credits: Alex Lovell-Smith/Image courtesy of the artist and Mona Foma; Heidi Solander/Image courtesy of the artist and Mona Foma; Slavisa Drobnjakovic/Image courtesy of the artist and Mona Foma.

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