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Robot dogs, a nude swim, underground day clubs and solo film screenings – that’s just a taste of what’s in store for Dark Mofo 2026.
After its fiery return last year, Tasmania’s wildly popular midwinter festival will once again transform Hobart into an avant-garde playground from June 11 to 22. The 2026 program has just dropped, and it’s packed with boundary-pushing art, music, movies and rituals – just don’t expect anything remotely conventional.
The venues are just as wacky as the program itself – think a 48,000-tonne ship, a deconsecrated church, an abandoned institution and a surprise venue in an undisclosed Tassie town. The Dark Mofo team still has plenty up their sleeve for 2026, with secret pop-ups and hidden happenings you’ll have to stumble upon yourself.
We’ve sifted through the program to bring you our must-see highlights at Dark Mofo 2026, from spine-tingling rituals to world premieres and Aussie exclusives.
1. Night Mass
On both Friday and Saturday nights, this shapeshifting extravaganza will take over entire city blocks, transforming them into a vibrant tapestry of more than 150 mysterious, immersive artists and musicians. As always, a handful of secret shows will be hidden in plain sight for those clever enough to track them down – so don’t be afraid to duck behind doorways and follow that signature red glow.
2. Nude Solstice Swim
Join 3,000 brave souls for an icy plunge at Long Beach wearing nothing but your birthday suit (and a red swim cap). The stripped-back ritual marks the end of the festival on Monday, June 22 – the longest night of the year. Tickets for this one are bound to sell out fast, so don’t overthink it… just dive in.
3. Ogoh-Ogoh
Almost 20,000 festival-goers joined last year’s Ogoh-Ogoh parade to watch the ceremonial burning of their fears. This year, you can join the morbid procession from Franklin Park to Regatta Ground on Sunday, June 21, culminating in the fiery sacrifice of this year’s totem, inspired by a pedra branca skink.
4. Winter Feast
Another beloved festival ritual, the Winter Feast warms up even the coldest, darkest Hobart nights, serving up global cuisines with a side of live music. Sprawled across Princes Wharf and Salamanca Lawns throughout the festival, the 2026 edition stars guest chef Floriano Pelligrino of Michelin-starred restaurant Bros’ in Italy, alongside Tasmania’s very own Roberto Mele of MAMA Artisanal Bakery.
5. Solas by Candela Capitán
New-wave Spanish performer Candela Capitán brings her cam-girl choreography to Hobart in an Australian exclusive performance, featuring just five bodies and five computers. Dressed in thigh-high boots and lycra leotards, they’ll move through a series of provocative acrobatics that critique the commodification of the female body in the digital world.
6. Un muro que parte el cuerpo en dos (A wall that breaks the body in two) and Hairline Border by Kiyo Gutiérrez
Mexican multidisciplinary artist Kiyo Gutiérrez will also put her body on the line for two durational performances that powerfully communicate the violence of borders. Expect to be unsettled – in the best possible way.
7. Perros Chaos and Êlêctron 45Cc L=20nm W20nm by Lolo & Sosaku
Autonomous robot dogs roaming an unstable field of industrial sound, light and fog – that’s what you can expect from Barcelona-based artist duo Lolo & Sosaku’s chaotic installation, Perros Chaos. The mechanical mayhem continues in their second live performance, Êlêctron 45Cc L=20nm W20nm, where robotic machines clash, grind and collide in a spectacle of raw, futuristic energy.
8. Stasis by Ruben Bellinkx
Stasis will see a group of interdependent men uphold a system that traps them, literally held aloft by their own teeth. Just thinking about it gives us goosebumps.
9. Sculpt: Eye of the Duck by Loris Gréaud
Be one of just 500 people worldwide to experience this destabilising audiovisual work by French conceptual artist and filmmaker Loris Gréaud. Each morning, only the first nine people physically in line will get the rare chance to see it in complete solitude. That's just 90 people across the full festival. Will you be one?
10. Times of War (Darkness) by Regina José Galindo
In her first-ever Australian performance, Guatemalan artist Regina José Galindo will have a wall constructed over her naked body, a powerful symbol of the impact of borders on families. Watch as her vulnerable body is illuminated, then swallowed by darkness.
11. Soundscape by Boris Acket
This specially commissioned work is Dutch artist Boris Acket’s biggest work to date – an immersive kinetic cloud of sound and light, constantly shifting, collapsing and reforming.
12. Dark Mofo Music
From New York and London to Oslo, Japan and Kenya, the 2026 Dark Mofo program goes hard – and also goes home, with a handful of Aussie artists on the bill. You can catch artists who you won’t see anywhere else in Australia, including the supreme witch of New York’s hip-hop underground, Princess Nokia; adrenaline-fuelled thrash metal band Power Trip; Glaswegian innovator Sega Bodega and more. Local names to look out for include Miss Kaninna, Folk Bitch Trio and Baker Boy.
13. Museum of Old and New Art (MONA)
Dark Mofo’s chaotic home base, MONA, is set to unveil more new art than any year since the Pharos Wing opened in 2017. Pay a visit to explore Julian Charrière’s solo exhibition ‘Hard Core’, check out Anselm Kiefer’s monumental work ‘Elektra’, and dive into the underground Sex + Death Day Club.
Tickets for Dark Mofo go on sale to subscribers at 10am AEDT on Wednesday, April 1 and to the general public from 12pm. You can sign up for updates here.