The seventh annual Dark Mofo festival is shaping up to be equally as ambitious as the six that came before it, launching with a long weekend of Dark + Dangerous Thoughts in the Odeon Theatre from Thursday June 6 to Sunday June 9. Curated by Hobart’s underground art museum MONA, the winter festival explores centuries-old solstice rituals and the links between ancient and contemporary mythology. Bear witness to controversial panel discussions investigating what moderate conservatives and libertarians have to say about sex, family and equality, sermons examining fear, debates questioning whether identity has become our new religion and a powerful firsthand account from trans civil rights activist Jennifer Boylan whose marriage survived a sex change. Hear the voices of rapper, poet and author Omar Musa, Walkley Award-winning writer Stan Grant, comedian Luke McGregor, author and broadcaster Yumi Stynes and award-winning playwright Nakkiah Lui, among many others, in enchanting Tasmanian settings.

After what he thought would be his final performance at last year’s Dark Mofo, artist Mike Parr will return with a new work featuring a live video feed of himself navigating an undisclosed gallery space with a blindfold, brush and black paint. The location will later be revealed and open as an exhibition for a short time. New Zealand’s Simon Denny will take you on a journey underground, while Paul Yore transforms DarkLab’s deconsecrated church into a technicolour chapel for Dolly Parton, Justin Bieber and other icons of love, sex and excess. A major new exhibition by Tasmanian Aboriginal artist Julie Gough will examine colonialism and its impact on Tasmania’s first people, then and now, while Kirsha Kaechele will continue her lifelong quest to transform flaws into features, with a book, exhibition, performative treatments and a series of immersive feasts. American musician Sharon Van Etten – direct from David Lynch’s Twin Peaks revival – and her band will treat listeners to a night of music from her new album, Remind Me Tomorrow.

While we’ll have to wait until Friday April 12 to hear the entire program, there’s no doubt Dark Mofo 2019 will offer up yet another delicious year of provocative art, alternative music and good nosh. Pre-sale tickets will go on sale from 6:00 pm Monday April 15 and general ticket sales from 12:00 pm Tuesday April 16. The festival will run from Thursday June 6 to Sunday June 23, 2019.