The Dark Mofo festival is known for events in the strangest of places, and for the first time it's staging artworks on board a ship.
The 48,000-tonne Spirit of Tasmania V will become part of Tasmania's midwinter arts festival, moored at Hobart's Macquarie Wharf.
Spirit of Tasmania V and its sister ship IV are years behind schedule but will be commissioned for travel across Bass Strait later in 2026.
The ferry project made global headlines after it was revealed the Spirits would be completed before a berth in Tasmania would be ready.
Spirit V might not be set up for passengers as yet, but it will provide a space for five large scale artworks, with robot dogs roaming a field of sound and light by duo Lolo & Sosaku, and a text installation by Melbourne artist Chunxiao Qu.
Three video works on board will include a techno-driven montage of Black life in the US from Arthur Jafa, Brazilian artist Berna Reale riding a blood-red horse, and Guatemala's Regina José Galindo being pursued by a military tank.
The Dark Mofo program ranges across themes including technology, global politics and war - and if there is a unifying idea it's the power of external forces both loud and quiet, said Dark Mofo artistic director Chris Twite.
"There are moments of joy, celebration and ritual that are played out in both silence and cacophony, and there are moments of sheer terror and pain that are fulfilled in those same ways," he said.
The 2026 slate also includes exclusive screenings of a film by French artist Loris Gréaud, created a decade ago with US actor Willem Dafoe - and only allowed to be viewed by one person at a time.
There's also a performance of Belgian artist Ruben Bellinkx's Stasis, a four-storey ziggurat of tables and men, held together with their teeth.
Dark Mofo has a reputation for boundary-pushing and at times controversial artworks, but it's best known for its Nude Solstice Swim, which returns to Long Beach to close the festival on June 22.
The 2026 Winter Feast features Michelin-starred chef Floriano Pelligrino, while the popular Ogoh-Ogoh ritual will sacrifice a giant totem of the Pedra Branca Skink.
The music slate features New York underground hip hop artist Princess Nokia, Texan thrash metal outfit Power Trip, and dance music experience UNADULTER8 from Irish-Chilean performer/producer Sega Bodega.
There's also Manchester rock outfit World United Lucifer Youth Foundation, with the elusive band re-forming after more than a decade.
Dark Mofo returns to Tasmania from June 11–22 and tickets go on sale Wednesday.
