when planning our time in tasmania, everyone declared that we must visit mona. and david walsh's museum of old and new art really is a must see. knowing very little of the museum or the owner, only tales of a poo making machine and that we should "expect to be confronted", and not really knowing what even that meant, our friends kindly showed us a short snippet about it's opening and filled us in on the rather unique story.
the owner, a professional gambler, high school drop out, art collector and now giving back to hobart. really a rather eccentric and arguably egotistical individual it seems loves to create controversy and is rather successful. he has however, also engaged some amazing people to create mona and it is very impressive.
taking the mona ferry from hobart, it is a thirty minute cruise along the derwent river to arrive at the museum. we were not really prepared for how impressive the architecture itself would be. situated on a small peninsula with mt wellington as a backdrop, as we arrived walking up the steep concrete steps to the entrance, the spectacular blue skies only enhanced the sandstone and rust that makes the building.
inside the museum itself, it is incredibly well curated and has fully embraced technology to make the experience as interactive but unobtrusive as possible. we were given ipod type things that would guide us through the works, that were all unsigned. the ipods determine where you are in the museum at any point in time and provide information on the nearby art works. each piece was also accompanied by "art wank" and "gonzo" to provide as much insight as you could want. it also records your tour and emails it to you so you can review it later, which was all really rather cool.
three levels of art underground, there is no natural light, but the sandstone walls made for a spectacular back drop. the art ranged from the weird to the wonderful, antique pieces recreated or arranged becoming new art in their own way, art that provokes all the senses (not necessarily for the better with one room smelling potently of a pig sty - i suppose this was part of the confronting), live art, and so much more. most of it clever and thought provoking, or making you giggle.
in the end, we kept coming back to the physical museum that was an art work in itself and completely blew us away.
"fat car" by erwin wurm
a particularly popular piece that as we stood observing, became of great amusement to two gentlemen from rural australia. as it turned out they had never before been to an art gallery or museum. they did not entirely grasp the concept of not touching the art and were causing the museum staff quite a lot of concern.
the piece is accompanied by the line "fat people should be ostracised, like smokers" i guess that is part of why david walsh is considered controversial. i suppose calling artists dumb is also going to upset a few people. the accompanying gonzo writing also entertained me quite some.
MISTY
By David Walsh
My sister Lindy and her daughter Misty went to the Sandy Bay Regatta. This was about twenty years ago. Misty was ten or eleven, I think. A man gave Misty a pie. She ate it. He gave her another. She ate that too. This continued for some time. 'That nice man gave me some pies,' she said to Lindy.
Misty won the pie-eating competition.
"mortuary amulets mounted as a modern pendant"
as you walk around mona, there are glass cabinets that look the same as you would find in any museum from a distance, however, when you get closer they invariably contain something unusual. the above amulets for instant were taken and made into a necklace. several cabinets contained artifacts from periods spanning across two thousand years randomly floating in water. there is absolutely no chronology to the presentation of the museum, declaring that "randomness is the key to the museum" and it certainly made it interesting.
"bit.fall" by julius popp
water droplets fall from a fountain installation to spell out words such as "Water", "Jesse James" and "London" to represent the changes in our brains and selves caused by the incessant flood of information we are exposed to by the media and the age of communication technology. this was a particularly mesmerising installation.
"pulse room"
two bars protrude from a podium with the first in a series of flashing light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, going along the corridor and into a room of seemingly randomly flashing bulbs. when you take hold of the bars, it records your pulse which is then transmitted through the light blub, flashing in time with your pulse. as you move away and the next person steps up to the podium there is a small pause and all the pulsing lights shuffle along one. so as the day progresses the museum visitors pulses are recorded in the room.
the electronic tour companion explains that "This work uses incandescent light bulbs. They are illegal in Australia, on environmental grounds, so we shipped them in from China."
there are also some pretty special areas on the mona peninsula including an outdoor concert area, various restaurants and bars, the moo brewery and even a hotel if you have a spare abundance of money you feel like spending to stay the night. we chose to instead enjoy the free bean bags and view on the lawns.
