6/5/2025 | Entertainment | AU
Dark Mofo 2025 is not your average arts festival. This year, the Hobart-based event has outdone itself with a lineup that includes everything from a live car crash to a 5-meter-tall goblin lurking in a decommissioned church. Under the new creative direction of Chris Twite, the festival is embracing its reputation for the bizarre, the unsettling, and the downright spectacular.
Twite describes this year’s event as a 'behemoth,' with the entire city of Hobart bathed in the festival’s signature red glow. From the waterfront to hidden alleyways, art installations are designed to provoke, entertain, and sometimes unsettle. One of the most talked-about pieces is a live performance by Brazilian artist Paula Garcia, where two cars will crash in a choreographed spectacle of tension and destruction. 'It’s going to be tense and very strange,' Twite admits, a statement that could easily apply to much of Dark Mofo’s programming.
For those who prefer their art with a side of existential dread, there’s the Ogoh-Ogoh statue—a giant Maugean skate where visitors can write down their fears before it’s set ablaze in a ritualistic bonfire. Meanwhile, Simon Zordic’s 'Coffin Ride' offers festival-goers the chance to climb into a coffin and take home a souvenir photo, because nothing says 'fun' like confronting mortality head-on.
Family-friendly options are available too, with Dark Park transforming Macquarie Point into a fiery wonderland of kinetic light installations and interactive art. And for those who enjoy a good scream, the 12-meter-wide 'Neon Anthem' invites participants to kneel and let out their frustrations in a collective catharsis.
Dark Mofo has always thrived on pushing boundaries, and 2025 is no exception. Whether it’s the eerie glow of a red cross over the waterfront or the unsettling presence of a naked, pregnant figure in a disused church, the festival is a reminder that art doesn’t have to be comfortable to be compelling. As Twite puts it, the goal is to get people out of their homes and into the cold, dark night—where the weird and the wonderful await.
This article is a creative commentary based on publicly available information and is intended for entertainment purposes only. The views expressed are those of the author and do not constitute professional advice.
By Homer Keaton , this article was inspired by this source.