My Afternoon at MONA

📍 Museum of Old and New, Hobart, Tasmania

🗓️ 22nd of May, 2021

Perhaps one visit to MONA is enough.

Perhaps it’s never enough. When I spoke to my colleagues at work before leaving on my trip those who’d been before were all of the opinion that one trip was more than enough.

The MONA is certainly an interesting museum, created by millionaire David Walsh, a gambler turned art collector. It is now Australia’s largest funded private gallery. Walsh himself is larger than life. In an article in 2016 written by Steph Harmon for The Guardian, Walsh is quoted:

“I own an art gallery and I know almost nothing about art,” he says. It was one of Walsh’s main reasons for opening Mona in the first place: to start and learn from a conversation about what art is.

The MONA has been credited for rejuvenating Tasmania’s tourism industry and injecting millions of dollars into the state. For Tasmanians themselves, entry to the museum is free. For everyone else it’s AUD$30 which is a reasonable price point considering what’s inside. I feel like if you lived in the Hobart area, the MONA would be an amazing place to meet friends, grab some wine and a cheese board and catch up. It has a beautifully designed outdoor space with several options for food and drinks, and a set up for live entertainment.

One of the things I loved seeing the most was the library. It’s mostly the personal collection of Walsh himself, based on his own tastes and preferences. The books are what’s used by MOMA curators and researchers and it’s freely available to all visitors to come and browse while there. It’s at the end of one of the long tunnels that connect different areas of the museum so it’s quite a build up to the entrance, and you think it’s going to be another art work but there are toilets and the library at the end.

Throughout the whole museum I had this sense that I might be scared at any moment, or feel sickened. I think the tunnels and feeling of being so far underground is foreboding and gives everything you’re seeing around you a general feeling of that too.

What MONA does do is start conversations. Since getting back we’ve both had numerous conversations with our friends and family about what we saw there. Particular pieces stand out especially: Cloaca Professional (pictured below) (2010) which is the work of Belgian conceptual artist Wim Delvoye. It can be basically summed up as a poo machine, it’s a series of tubes which mimic the intestinal tract and makes a “deposit” at certain times in the day, smell included.

Or the c*nts and conversations (2008 - 2009) by Australian artist Greg Taylor. To sum this work up, it’s basically a vagina wall. 151 plaster casts of different vaginas of women on the wall (pictured below). This one I had difficulty with, due it’s name. I don’t understand why it had to be that word, which is usually used as an insult. I’m still not sure how I feel about it, but I did read a great article in Overland by Camille Nurka about her visit as an expert on female genitalia and it did make me feel better about it’s existence. The next section following this in the museum is the ladies only section as well, which I found quite special. My boyfriend waited outside while I wandered around this room, closed off by velvet drapes. There was a harpist playing beautifully and some finer jewellery works inside.

I think the labyrinth of the place makes it difficult to know if you’ve seen everything, and I’m sure we missed the James Turrell works in our excitement to get to everything before it closed.

Overall I found the MONA fascinating and I would love to go back in the future. Hobart itself is now one of my favourite places in Australia and I am already planning a trip to explore more of Tasmania.