Dark Mofo was launched in 2013 by a partnership of MONA owner David Walsh, creative director Leigh Carmichael and musician Brian Ritchie.

[7] The organisers estimated had the event met a last-minute cancellation, the fiscal impact would be $10 million, with most of the costs absorbed by Walsh as the financier, and would have led to the permanent closure of the festival.

[8] The 2021 festival, planned to occur over a compressed one-week period to account for interstate border closures, faced fiscal, organisational and cultural issues.

[10] In March 2021, organisers faced criticism from Indigenous artists and cultural institutions for inviting First Nations people to participate in the commissioned work Union Flag by Santiago Sierra by donating their blood.

Following the Union Flag controversy of the previous year, the organizers adopted "safer" programming,[14] with Carmichael describing the decision to "pull back (to) give everyone a chance to breathe".

[19] Carmichael cited the need for "new energy and new ideas to move the festival forward",[20] whilst retaining his role as the director of the event's creative agency DarkLab, which managed other cultural projects in Tasmania.

[21] Carmichael expressed fatigue with engaging with controversial works,[14] and committed to "giving Chris the space he needs to take (the event) forward in the way he chooses".

[14] The festival has been praised for its "aesthetic of darkness" in its use of taboo subject matter and pagan iconography, and compared to the Tasmanian Gothic artistic and literary tradition.

[54] The controversy continued in 2018 with petitions from the Australian Christian Lobby and the local Coptic Bishop Anba Suriel calling for the removal of inverted crosses situated around Hobart.

[59] John McDonald of The Sydney Morning Herald supported the work's "negative aspects" of the legacy of colonialism, although he noted it was likely to "draw anger" due to the "emotionally charged" nature of blood as a cultural symbol closely associated with violence.

[69] Writing for Overland, Cass Lynch described Union Flag as "disrespectful and ignorant", with the work "perpetuating" the "gore, aesthetics and power dynamics" of imperialism.

[68] In an initial defense of "self-expression", Carmichael shared a statement that the organisers "understand, respect and appreciate the many diverse views in relation to this confronting project", and that the festival had been informed by the "range of perspectives" from the Tasmanian Indigenous community prior to announcement.

[64] The following day, on 23 March, Carmichael issued an additional announcement that the work would be cancelled, stated that the organisers had "made a mistake and take full responsibility", and apologised "for any hurt that had been caused".