HOBIENNALE Festival Will Return This Month

From 29 October to 1 November, Hobiennale will return to nipaluna/Hobart for a concentrated weekend of exhibitions, performances, workshops and conversations around club culture and diasporic experience.

Bringing together local and interstate artists, this year, Hobiennale asks what happens when we stop trying to draw a neat line around what counts as 'art'.

Exploring the intersections of identity, accessibility, self-expression and collective culture, the festival considers how people create their own spaces, tell their stories and find ways to connect and belong. The boundaries between art practice and other forms of cultural and collective expression are increasingly blurred. Hobiennale welcomes this blur, questioning how the category of 'art', particularly within Western contexts, has been shaped, and whose experiences and practices are recognised. At the heart of the festival is a focus on artist-run initiatives and collectives, and the role they play in creating spaces for experimentation, community and alternative ways of living. These spaces can become vital sites for queer expression, cultural exchange, resistance and care.

Across four days, audiences are invited to gather, dance, discuss, perform and experience work in unconventional and familiar settings, including kitchen table talks, exhibitions, ballroom workshops, ritual sculpture and a club night.

Hobiennale invites audiences to experience art as a lived practice, interconnected with identity, community and the everyday acts of creating space, telling stories and imagining different ways of being together.

The full program is out now and most events are free thanks to the generous support of the City of Clarence, Hobart City Council, University of Tasmania and Constance ARI.

PROGRAM

THURSDAY 29 OCTOBER, 6PM
Opening Night at the Hobiennale Hub, University of Tasmania, 37 Hunter Street, Hobart

Hobiennale opens with an evening gathering and welcome from Cody Gangell-Smith, followed by introductions from director Feras Shaheen, curatorial framework shared by former co-director Nadia Refaei, and participating artists.

FRIDAY 30 OCTOBER, 10PM
House of Silky Club Night at The Grand Poobah, Liverpool St, Hobart

A late-night club event celebrating local QTBIPOC talent, presented by House of Silky, featuring performances by Juhbahleee, Rocky Stallone, House of Silky and special guests DJ L$F and DJ Mum.

SATURDAY 31 OCTOBER, 2PM
Ballroom (Vogue) Workshop and Mini Ball, Alma's Activities Centre (17 Alma St, Bellerive TAS 7018)

A day of movement, performance and transformation featuring a Vogue Workshop, Mini Ball and Effects Workshop led by Gusta Mara and Lucie from House of Silky.

SUNDAY 1 NOVEMBER, 10AM
Kitchen Rituals at Abraham Lebanese Mezze Bar, Newtown

Hear from Hobiennale commissioned artist and sculptor Rueben Baartz, followed by a kitchen table discussion with Xander Khoury, Rueben Baartz, Maggie Abraham and Marion Abraham.

SUNDAY 1 NOVEMBER, 3PM
Closing performance and exhibition at Rosny Farm, City of Clarence

Hobiennale closes with a sensual, embodied and expansive performance by Jacob Coppedge, Followed by The Community Kitchen Project, and closing reflections by Cody Gangell-Smith to wrap up the first Hobiennale cluster: Welcome the blur.

EXHIBITIONS

Hobiennale Hub, Hunter Street
29 October – 30 November
Cody Gangell-Smith & Bhenji Ra

The Container, Rosny Farm
29 October – 5 November
Jacob Coppedge & Xander Khoury

Abraham Lebanese Mezze Bar
29 October onwards
Rueben Baartz

Media contact
Chloe Tanner
Producer, Hobiennale
0401 360 019 | producer.hobiennale@gmail.com

Media spokesperson
Xander Khoury - Founder of House of Silky

Xander is a West Sydney-based creative producer, cultural curator and community organiser with a passion for music, nightlife and the performing arts. As the founder of The Door List and House of Silky, Xander has spent over eight years championing queer and BIPOC communities through events, performances and cultural experiences. His work centres on creating inclusive spaces that celebrate self-expression, creativity and community, with projects spanning Vivid Sydney, Boiler Room, Pitch Music Festival and Australia's vibrant ballroom scene. Through his work, Xander continues to amplify underrepresented voices and create platforms for emerging artists and creatives.

ABOUT HOBIENNALE

Hobiennale began in 2017, emerging from the work of Hobart-based artist-run initiative Constance ARI. The inaugural festival was conceived as a way of bringing independent artist-run initiatives into collaboration and conversation, creating a space to think critically about how artist-led organisations operate, support artists and build communities.

The first Hobiennale brought together 18 artist-run initiatives from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, with more than 100 artists exhibiting across 12 venues in Hobart, Clarence and Glenorchy. The festival returned in 2019, bringing together 21 independent artist-led organisations and cooperatives from Australia and New Zealand, with around 100 artists and musicians presenting exhibitions across 15 venues throughout Hobart and its surrounds. Hobiennale returns in 2026 with a different rhythm. Smaller, slower and more concentrated, this iteration focuses on relationships between artists, audiences and communities, allowing the festival to unfold through a series of gatherings, performances, workshops, exhibitions and conversations.