Queenstown is a rugged, historic mining town on the West Coast of Lutruwita / Tasmania, with a population of just 1,808 people. And yet, its biennial festival – The Unconformity – has quickly garnered a reputation for its daring, place-responsive programming, attracting international artists over its 15-year run.
Organisers call it ‘uncompromising’, adding that one can expect this year to be immersed by, ‘semaphore signals at dawn and artworks etched in Queenstown’s famous acidic orange river, to rogue late-night sonic experiments with headliner cameos, and a fierce football match played on gravel, The Unconformity is a festival that defies definition.’
Ready to kick off over four days from 16-19 October, Artistic Director Loren Kronemyer, was excited to launch her festival program this week, revealing that the theme for 2025 will be respawn.
She explains: ‘We may be a festival at the end of the world, but we’re always asking: how can we nourish this ground and nurture the green shoots that grow towards the light? To respawn reflects the energy of regeneration we feel so strongly here – whether in the land, in culture, or in ourselves.’
The Unconformity: defined by intimacy
What makes The Unconformity unique is that over 80% of the program is free, with a No Barriers: Pay It Forward* ticketing initiative ensuring that this festival is inclusive and culturally accessible.
The intimacy of the setting plays a key part of this event: a location surrounded by enveloping, rugged ancient mountains, while on the ground, it is the scale and walkability of the festival that encourages a connectivity across contemporary art events, live music and transformative communal experiences.
You don’t just visit this festival – you become part of it.
The Unconformity: who’s headlining this year’s festival?
The Unconformity is testament that regional and remote creative practice can be ambitious. The 2025 program features 60 events – including the world premiere of 18 new commissions, as well as large-scale art installations, performances, music, dance, ceremony, and critical conversations across 46 venues throughout Queenstown – from local shopfronts to the historic Art Deco theatre and artists’ homes.
In terms of the music program, Australian rock legends Spiderbait headline Saturday night (18 October) with their first-ever performance in Queenstown. Friday night (17 October) sees newly-formed art-rock supergroup Bleak Squad – a powerhouse collaboration between Adalita (Magic Dirt), Mick Turner (Dirty Three), Mick Harvey (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) and Marty Brown (Art of Fighting) – play an exclusive Tasmanian show on their debut national tour.
Nicholas Allbrook (Pond, Tame Impala, Allbrook/Avery) also brings his genre-blurring psych-synth sound and dynamic stage presence to Queenstown on Friday night.
In Rise Up When She Calls, Uncle Jimmy Everett Puralia Meenamatta, Ruth Langford and the Lutruwita Art Orchestra lead a powerful ceremony for Country performed in and for the landscape.
The Unconformity: memorable exhibitions
Exhibition highlights reach across mediums, from Bridget Baskerville’s kinetic sculpture Overflow (which sees copper plates etched by the acidic flow of the Queen River, marking time, memory and environmental change), to jeweller Emma Bugg, who invites young people to contribute charms to Elemental Memories, a monumental, a multi-year project that will spill into the street.
Jewelled Nights reimagines Tasmania’s first major feature film 100 years on — honouring female icons Marie Bjelke-Petersen and Louise Lovely through participatory performance, archival fragments and physical culture classes.
In Fell, performance artist Luke George enters a state of suspended motion with a log equal to his body weight, evoking the reciprocal relationships between people and forests, while Malaysian artist Tony Yap will use his body in the transcultural drawing Panjat Hujan (“Climbing the Rain”).
Mature Artists Dance Experience (MADE) will perform Weaving Vibrant, a moving exploration of women as storytellers and weavers, while Indonesian artist Arif Furqan links Queenstown with Waduk Gajah Mungkur through stories of damming, displacement and resilience in their piece In What Water Could Remember, told through archival film, fabric projections and local voices.
The Unconformity: returning festival favourites
Festival-goers are invited to welcome the first light of the festival with the dawn hike Unrise, in which artists Theresa Sainty and A Published Event join forces to share Semaphore Score as an opening call to Country via signalers waving botanical-dyed flags.
Crib Road returns as the festival’s vibrant outdoor precinct with food and drink, and free live music, while The Unconformity Art Trail will showcase the work of 60 West Coast artists.
And wrapping up the festival is The Unconformity Cup, a unique sporting event that pits artists and athletes against the elements in a gladiatorial all-gender football match, played on Queenstown’s unforgiving gravel oval. Organisations describe it as, ‘Think grassroots footy without the grass’.
It is easy to claim that The Unconformity is one of Australia’s most distinctive and original festivals, offering audiences an intimate and connected experience to this incredible place – and to each other.
The Unconformity 2025 will be presented from 16-19 October, in Queenstown, Lutruwita / Tasmania. For the program and ticketing.
The Unconformity 2025 is proudly supported by Events Tasmania, Creative Australia, Arts Tasmania, Festivals Australia, and West Coast Council.
