MONA Book Haul
A trip to MONA (Museum of Old and New) - or, really, any museum or gallery - is not complete without stepping into the gift shop.
When I was there I had to pick up a few things, the MONA press is quite different to any other.
This is the 50th anniversary edition of Nochlin’s groundbreaking essay, published by Thames & Hudson with an introduction by Catherine Grant. Nochlin (1931 - 2017) was Lila Acheson Wallace Professor Emerita of Modern at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts. It is a beautiful, small hardback edition which includes 14 black and white illustrations.
Making of MONA is written by Adrian Franklin, an sociologist at the University of Tasmania. It is the story of how the MONA came to be what it is today, including the building process and story of the branding and marketing. It has bright pink edges, and a lot of beautiful coloured images throughout.
This title is part of a series of small photo collections with a short essay from David Walsh at the beginning. The others in the series include ‘that is arguably immoral’, ‘with really brilliant titles’, ‘that is probably not art’ and one of my personal favourites, ‘that gives Elizabeth the shits’. I was very tempted to buy the series, but I thought I’d just collect one each time I visit instead. This particular one features art from Marina Abramović, John Baldessari, Katthy Cavaliere, Damien Hirst, Yayoi Kusama and Chiharu Shiota.
This is a literary magazine run out of Hobart, Tasmania. This particular issue is 161, and had no theme but they often do. It includes stories, poetry, art and essays. It’s one of only two journals from regional Australia. I’m looking forward to diving into it and hoping I love it so much I have a new journal to subscribe to.
