Hear From Germany’s Berlin Atonal On Their Guest Curation For Dark Mofo 2018

A temple of experimental and electronic music, performance and audio-visual art will be constructed for two nights in Hobart this June, by Germany’s venerable advanced music festival, for Laterne by Berlin Atonal at Dark Mofo 2018. The Music asked Berlin Atonal’s Harry Glass and Laurens von Oswald how this resonant artistic association came about, and what punters can expect from this international offering.

What brought Berlin Atonal to Hobart? How did the partnership with Dark Mofo come about?

Berlin Atonal: We both grew up in Australia and so watch with interest all the developments in the arts and music scenes there. Since Dark Mofo launched it was clear to us that something interesting and different was going on there. We certainly noticed a similarity of artistic vision and ambition. After a few trips back and forth (including members of the Dark Mofo team coming over to visit our festival) both sides decided that it would be an interesting experiment for us to develop a project for Tasmania. The point is not to transplant something from Berlin to Hobart - but to create a platform that can offer something uniquely new to the Australian scene.

The Dark Mofo gigs you're curating this June are called Laterne by Berlin Atonal, which translates literally as lantern light in German. How does this title reflect the programming?

We always find names hard as they’re meaningless and important at the same time. Laternes like the little lights children take onto the streets as they sing songs to celebrate St Martin’s day on November 11 every year. Gas lanterns were the main form of street lighting here in Berlin before electricity, as well as the main form of lighting for the stage - replacing candles for most theatre and opera productions during the 19th century. Of course many theatres also burned down during this time. Musically as well as visually these programmes have something to do with the Manichean forces of lightness and darkness.

What inspired your curatorial choices for Dark Mofo, and for Australian audiences in Hobart?

We only starting thinking about the programme after spending some time in Hobart with the Dark Mofo team. We usually like to work outwards from the space - engaging artists to produce works specifically for a setting - rather than trying to collect already shelf-ready projects or performances and only in a second step shoe-horn them into a programme.

We often find that some of the standout performances at Dark Mofo each year come from artists who are lesser known. Which artists do you think might be surprise standouts?

The programme is all very exciting as far as we’re concerned. Peder Mannerfelt is undoubtedly one of the most individual voices in electronic music over the last years. We had the pleasure of hosting the premiere of Roly Porter and Paul Jebanasam’s Altar project in Berlin last year - it was an incredible work that exudes an immense amount of sonic pressure, unlike anything we’d heard before. Paul (who is from Sydney originally) is probably one of Australia’s most underrated musicians. The world premiere of Fis and PYUR will also be very special. We’re especially excited about hosting Japanese duo Group A - two incredibly talented musicians and performers.

Your creative output extends between Germany and Australia. What similarities, if any, do you see between Berlin and Hobart, and how are they different?

It’s probably a bit of a stretch to draw the line too directly between Berlin and Hobart. Historically and demographically they are of course very different places. I guess the biggest similarity comes in the willingness of our respective festivals to turn spaces into platforms for artists, to encourage them to take risks with their work, and to express themselves with the hand-brake off.

You can find the full Laterne program via the Dark Mofo website.