The Unconformity festival is backTasmania, Australia

Pack your hiking boots, a sequin jacket, and maybe a helmet because The Unconformity festival is back to shake up Queenstown in Tasmania, 16–19 October 2025, and it’s anything but ordinary.

This year’s theme is ‘respawn,’ which basically means the festival is coming back to life like a video game character, though instead of dodging fireballs or little ghosties, you’ll be dodging avant-garde art, spontaneous footy matches on gravel, and possibly a rogue Spiderbait riff echoing through the mountains.

The program is a colossal 60 events featuring 121 artists who seem hell-bent on proving that Queenstown is the creative capital of the universe. We’re talking semaphore messages at sunrise, copper sculptures literally etched by the town’s acidic river (yes, that’s a thing), and a performance involving a log the exact weight of the artist’s body (we’re not sure either).

Crib Road will once again transform into the festival’s beating heart, lined with food, drink, and free live music. Spiderbait headlines Saturday night, alongside the brooding brilliance of Bleak Squad (featuring members from Dirty Three and The Bad Seeds), and plenty of Tassie-grown talent.

And then there’s The Unconformity Cup, a gladiatorial football match on a gravel oval that pits ‘The West’ against ‘The Rest.’ Think grassroots AFL, only there’s no grass. Are you game?

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