Contemporary cultural festival ‘The Unconformity’ to transform Tasmania’s West Coast

Highly anticipated biennial contemporary cultural festival - The Unconformity - returns to Tasmania’s dramatic and distinctive West Coast town of Queenstown from 16th to 19th October 2025.

The Unconformity 2025 is supported by the Tasmanian Government and the Australian Government through Creative Australia.

Festival favourites will be returning, including the dawn hike Unrise, The Unconformity Art Trail, and The Unconformity Cup – the infamous artists vs. athletes gladiatorial all-gender football match played on Queenstown's unforgiving gravel oval as the culmination of four days of festivities.  

Celebrating 15 years of place-driven art and community-led culture, the 2025 edition marks the beginning of a new chapter under the joint leadership of Chief Executive Louisa Gordon and Artistic Director Loren Kronemyer.

Set among Queenstown's dramatic peaks and deep mining history, The Unconformity will once again transform the town with headline acts, site-specific installations, contemporary performances, participatory works, live music, and cross-cultural exchange, all powerfully attuned to the landscape and community that shape them.

Gordon enthused “we're thrilled to invite audiences back to the West Coast in 2025 for an experience unlike any other. The Unconformity is a festival that moves at the pace of Queenstown, powerfully and deeply connected to place. It offers a moment of reconnection in a remote part of the world that has always defied convention.”

With an ethos rooted in collaboration and cultural dialogue, the festival is co-created in partnership with local residents, deeply connected artists, Aboriginal community members, and visitors statewide and nationally, offering a rare opportunity to encounter art that is not only seen but lived.

Kronemyer added “Grounded in place, The Unconformity is an evolving conversation between the inhabitants of this ecosystem. Our 2025 program reflects the unique spirit of Queenstown: independent, poetic and generous. We can't wait to share what's taking shape.”

Expect the unexpected in terms of programming, weather and experiences. In 2025, The Unconformity invites audiences to grow their own connections with the land, with stories, and with one another through newly commissioned works. Festival favourites also return, including the dawn hike Unrise, The Unconformity Art Trail, and The Unconformity Cup – the infamous artists vs. athletes gladiatorial all-gender football match played on Queenstown's unforgiving gravel oval as the culmination of four days of festivities.  

The full festival program will be available online from Friday 22 August 2025.

Festival-goers are encouraged to plan their journey early and secure accommodation via the West Coast Visitor Information Centre

Images from top. The Unconformity Cup – the infamous artists vs. athletes gladiatorial all-gender football match;  Party Dozen at The Paragon Theatre as part of The Unconformity;  dawn hike Unrise.  Credit: Rémi Chauvin