Recent presentation and touring highlights 2012 – 2026 include:
TATE Modern, London, UK
Southbank Centre, London, UK
Regional Centre of Culture, Maryborough, Vic
Sydney International Festival
Brisbane International Festival
Andy Warhol Museum, PA, USA
Anti Festival, Finland
Mayfest, Bristol, UK
SOHO Theatre, London
Ruhrfestpiel Festival, Recklinhausen, Germany
New Zealand Festival
Curatorship/Producer:
2022-2026 Creative Director – Garage Band, Federation Square, Melbourne
2020-2022 Creative Director – White Night Bendigo, White Night Geelong
2019 Co-Curator at Sanafest, Holen, Norway
2015 Associate Producer at Next Wave Festival
2014 Co-Curator of FOLA at Arts House Melbourne
2014 Sportsclub Project, M.C.G. Melbourne
Joseph O’Farrell (JOF) is a multi-art performer, creative director, producer, musician and lecturer making work internationally from his home base in Naarm, Melbourne. JOF creates large-scale installation/theatre works with, and for, community that celebrates our diversity and brings people together in hilarious and unlikely situations.
Since 2012, JOF has been creating socially engaged artwork across the globe. He has been engaged by TATE Modern to lead an intensive art-workshop for young people – one of the first projects of its kind commissioned by TATE, making him one of a handful of Australian contemporary artists to be exhibited in the gallery. He’s work 10 MINUTEDANCE PARTIES – A dance party in a civic square curated and performed by young people, continues to tour all over the world and recently JOF presented THOSE WHOROCK at Hammer Hall in Melbourne and HOTA on the Gold Coast with 500 amateur musicians– significantly raising his profile as an international artist working at the nexus of performance, installation and socially-engaged live art practice.
JOF’s work as an artist, facilitator and academic positively impact the lives of all. He engages with and means he is in constant demand around the globe. He achieves this through cultural collaborations with local councils, local schools and universities, Australian art companies, and arts centres and festivals.
In 2020 he was appointed as Creative Director to deliver White Night Bendigo and White Night Geelong and in 2022 delivered a community led approach to the program that resulted in the highest ever recorded audience for a White Night regional ever, 92,000 people.
In addition to delivering White Night and THOSE WHO ROCK Gold Coast in 2022, JOF also created two world premieres:
- GARAGE BAND (A takeover of 150 teen musicians at Fed Square)
- HEAVY METAL (A car crusher in the middle of Geelong crushing cars to heavy metal music)
In 2024, JOF created a tourable and scalable model of THOSE WHO ROCK and called it HIGH VOLTAGE. This work was able to tour internationally and continued to collaborate with his international team.
In 2025 HIGH VOLTAGE was presented as a keynote project to open the Norfolk Norwich Festival to an audience of 6,000 people in the city centre.
His stable of works continue to tour the globe.
Learn more about JOF
