Mona Foma will be held in Launceston from 15 to 17 January and Hobart from 22 to 24 January 2021, promising great Tasmanian artists, unusual venues and irrepressible creativity.
Mona Foma is Mona’s high summer festival and here is a sneak peek at two acts from its 2021 program: announcing lasers in Launceston’s Cataract Gorge and an exhibition at the iconic K&D Warehouse in Hobart.
The world premiere of Aqua Luma, by internationally acclaimed artist Robin Fox, has been created especially for the incredible landscape of Cataract Gorge in Launceston.
Twelve metre-high water jets will fill the First Basin and erupt in time with subharmonic frequencies, while an electronic composition is beamed directly to your smartphone. Overhead, high powered lasers will trace geometrical patterns in the watery mist to envelop audiences in a canopy of light and sound.
Exclusive to Launceston, Aqua Luma will be a free, family-friendly experience, unfolding as night falls in one of the world’s most stunning urban nature sites.
The following weekend in Hobart, landmark hardware store K&D Warehouse—once the stomping ground of tradies and DIY enthusiasts—will undergo a makeover to house a series of artworks selected by Mona curator Emma Pike.
No Place Like Home will span the entire warehouse and feature video installations, art and sculpture by local and international artists including Tony Albert, Zanny Begg, Andy Hutson, Rachel Maclean, Nell, Ryan Presley and Phebe Schmidt.
Now owned by the University of Tasmania, this much-loved Hobart site will provide a unique experience inside one of the city’s most recognisable buildings, 118 years after it first opened.
Brian Ritchie, Curator, Mona Foma said: ‘We’re excited to share a snippet of the Mona Foma 2021 program: installations in two of the state’s most dramatically different but equally beloved locations. Robin Fox has been involved in every festival program since Mona Foma’s inception, so it’s appropriate that he has created a new work to address a year like no other. While at K&D Warehouse the art will take you over the rainbow after the storm that was the year 2020.’
Aqua Luma will run on a 20-minute cycle from Friday 15 to Sunday 17 January from 9.30 – 11.30pm at the First Basin, Cataract Gorge, Launceston, free entry.
No Place Like Home will run on Thursday 21 & Friday 22 January (4.00-8.00pm) and Saturday 23 & Sunday 24 January (12.00-8.00pm), at K&D Warehouse, Melville Street, Hobart, $10 + booking fee.
Mona Foma will run from Friday 15 January through to Sunday 24 January 2021, with music and art taking place over two weekends in Launceston (Friday 15 to Sunday 17 January) and Hobart (Friday 22 to Sunday 24 January).
The full 2021 program will be announced on Monday 7 December with all tickets on sale from 10am on Tuesday 8 December. This year’s festival will take into account the changed circumstances necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more information and to sign up to the mailing list for festival and program updates please visit: monafoma.net.au
Galley images: Moorilla Gallery