Fantastic Futures
Head into the decommissioned shell of the old Launceston Tafe—a place that once promised ‘Fantastic Futures’—for an exhibition of genuine and manufactured 'coming-togetherness'. Entry is free, but you’ll still need to register for a free ticket as part of the Old Tafe Sessions. Select a day below.
Friday 17–Sunday 19 February, 1–7pm
Accessibility Information
Physical access
The Paterson Street entrance is level. The Wellington Street entrance is accessible via a ramp, but it does have a narrow point (1m). There are lifts within the building. Accessible viewing platforms will be available, contact the Bookings & Enquiries team by emailing tickets@mona.net.au or calling +61 (3) 6277 9978.
Accessible parking nearby
Accessible parking at Paterson Street West (79–83 Paterson Street) with seven accessible spaces, lift and accessible toilet (cubicle open 24 / 7). This carpark is 150m from the venue.
Accessible toilets
There are 2 accessible toilets total on site—one in B block ground floor, and one in A block ground floor. See Mona Foma staff if you're having trouble finding them.
Quiet spaces/break out rooms for sensory relief
Block A, Room A1-04 (ground floor). Follow the signs; see Mona Foma staff if you need help finding it.
Olho da Rua (Out Loud), (video still), 2022, Jonathas de Andrade.
Olho da Rua (Out Loud)
Jonathas de Andrade
1–7pm
Jonathas collaborates with a vast cast of homeless residents from the Brazilian city of Recife to create this work, turning the observed to the observer. What do these people see when they look into the camera, or the mirror? And what do we see when we look back, be it on the streets, or a screen?
Credits
Curated by Emma Pike
Breakfast in Bed (video still), 2016, Kenneth Tam
Breakfast in Bed
Kenneth Tam
1–7pm
Kenneth worked with seven men he recruited through online postings (like Craigslist) to participate in a mock men's social club. The result is part social experiment, part absurdist theatre.
Credits
Curated by Emma Pike
Photo: Peter Mathew
Anthem Anthem Revolution
Terrapin
1–7pm
Local children pour their hopes and dreams for the country into a new national anthem, helped by pakana hip-hop artist DENNI, composer Thomas Rimes, multidisciplinary artist Dylan Sheridan and the TSO. Want to hear it? You’ll have to beat a robot at table tennis.
Credits
Director: Sam Routledge
Youth Facilitators: Alex Walker, Davina Wright
System Designer and Beats Programming: Dylan Sheridan
Songwriter, Lyrics & Vocals: Denni Proctor
Songwriter, Composer & Conductor: Thomas Rimes
Visual Direction & Set Design: Michelle Boyde
Audiovisual & Graphic Design: Futago
Recording Partner: Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Baritone: Samuel Dundas
Workshop Assistant: Billie Rankin
Youth Participants: Beatrix Bailey, Dottie Charlton, Frieda Cupit Sumner, Neo (Mika) Cupit Sumner, Annabelle Fenton, Quinn Sidney Gardner (Quince), Alondra Lisica, Pearl Smithies, Declan Triffitt, Isabella Triffitt, Woolf Wattern Wakelam, Dani Wright
Production Manager: Ryan Mahony
Curated by Emma Pike
The Queer Woodchop
Pony Express
5.15-6.45pm
In an unlikely (or likely?) collaboration, the classic country-show woodchopping competition meets joyous queer festivity in an interactive spectacle of flying wood and fabulousness.
Credits
Curated by Emma Pike
Showrunners: Ian Sinclair and Loren Kronemyer
LX and SX: Hosting
Wrangler: Sophie Ambler
Scenography: Marcus Tatton
Design: Rachael Guinness
Choppers: HK Vermeulen, Solomon Frank
Announcers: Rob Braslin, Rose Kingdom-Barron
This project has been assisted by:
The Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body
Arts Tasmania
Art Farm Birchs Bay
Manapanmirr, in Christmas Spirit
Miyarrka Media
1–7pm
Missionaries introduced Christmas stories and rituals to small bush settlements across East Arnhem Land during the 1930s and 40s. Yolŋu families embraced this new annual event with a particular talent for ceremony, beginning in late October, when the first thunderclouds of the wet season begin to rumble and families across Arnhem Land begin their Christmas preparations.
Manapanmirr, in Christmas Spirit is a performative documentary made to affirm—and share—this Yolngu take on Christmas. Co-director, the late Fiona Yaŋathu, described the work as a 'gift of grief' from her family to the world.
Credits
Curated by Emma Pike
Interbeing (video still), 2018, Martina Hoogland Ivanow
Interbeing
Martina Hoogland Ivanow
1–7pm
Shot entirely with thermal cameras, this film renders—in slightly eerie black-and-white—bodies, human interactions, and the lingering heat they leave behind.
Credits
Curated by Emma Pike
Song of the Sea Witch, 2020, (video still), Marnie Weber
Song of the Sea Witch
Marnie Weber
1–7pm
In a realm somewhere between fantasy, reality, and a filmed trip to the beach, punk musician Marnie Weber plays a witch whose seaside solitude is disturbed by a group of migratory birds.
Credits
Curated by Emma Pike
Border Farce, 2022, (video still), Safdar Ahmed
Border Farce
Safdar Ahmed
1–5pm
Kurdish-Iranian heavy metal guitarist Kazem Kazemi spent six years detained in Australia’s offshore prison camp on Manus island. This video features footage and sound from his collaborations and heavy metal performances, which he thinks of as ‘a kind of medicine’ for the experience of detention and abandonment.
Credits
Curated by Emma Pike
Lick Lick Blink, 2019 (film still), Willoh S.Weiland and Sandi Sissel, Commissioned by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
CHANT
Willoh S. Weiland
1–5pm
Willoh collaborated with women’s sporting clubs to choreograph and perform historic and contemporary feminist protest chants, creating visibility (and maybe a template) for local engagement with international issues.
Credits
Commissioned by MONA FOMA. Supported by Contemporary Art Tasmania with funding from Arts Tasmania
Curated by Emma Pike
Photo: Prayer, 2012, James Webb. Photo: Anthea Pokroy
Prayer
James Webb
1–7pm
Recordings of prayer, song, and vocal worship, gathered from all over the state. Prostrate yourself, and listen.
Complaints Choir
Tellervo Kalleinen + Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen
5–5.15pm
It’s a choir that sings complaints. Your complaints. About Launceston. Nothing like some grievances aired and shared to bring people together, right?
Live in Launceston? Got a complaint? Submit it here.
Credits
Curated by Emma Pike
Photo: Bryony Jackson
The Director
APHIDS
3–4.30pm
This performance requires an additional ticket to attend. Tickets here
A theatre show among the art: an ex-funeral director and a theatre director walk into a room. Watch them stumble along the fine line between the macabre, playful and tragic as they explore death and the industry that surrounds it. (90min)Credits
Lead artist: Lara Thoms
Co-creator: Scott Turnbull
Design: Katie Sfetkidis
Dramaturgs: Aaron Orzech and Lz Dunn
Sound: Kenneth Pennington
Producer: Anna Nalpantidis
Originally presented by ARTSHOUSE as part of Culturelab, Supported by The Australia Council for the Arts and Creative Victoria
Curated by Emma Pike
Hyperbolic Psychedelic Mind Melting Tunnel of Light
Robin Fox
1–7pm
An ‘extreme time and space bending experience’ designed for one person at a time. Your hands are on the controls: light, sound, motion (but hopefully not too much mind-melting).
This work involves strobe lighting effects. Still suitable for kids, though
