Hobart and the MONA
Feb 25th, Hobart, Tasmania
Wow. I’ve been to the Louvre, the Prado, the Tate and the Met, and I loved them all, but I’m going to go ahead and call yesterday’s trip to Hobart’s MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) my most interesting gallery visit to date. It starts of course on arrival. Billionaire David Walsh, whose brainchild this was, knew that the wow-y way to enter the site was from the water. He launched a high speed catamaran service to ferry people from Hobart’s inner harbour up to his location on a vineyard 20 minutes away in Berriedale. The cat is wrapped in camouflage, covered in graffiti, and features a cafe, a bar, ride-on sheep and yes, sit-on-able giant hot pink penises at its bow. It travels the 11 k up the River Derwent and pulls up to reveal an opening (maybe even a suggestive opening) in the rock face. Visitors disembark, climb the narrow 99 steps to the entrance; a funhouse mirrored cube nestled into the crotch of the original winemakers cottage perched atop the cliff. The gallery itself is embedded inside the earth below. You descend through the center and work your way through each exhibit back up through the earth. Like I said, wow-y.
The current exhibits are wild and varied. Many are raunchy and overtly sexual. Let’s just say I know a lot more about the possible variations of female anatomy than I did when we arrived. But the cool thing is how the artworks are presented. For example; there’s a hallway that leds to a rotunda completely painted floor walls and ceiling in a cloudscape. You feel like you’re floating in heaven. Then a series of openings draw you off to the sides into darkened rooms with tiny 16th century Russian iconographies painted in egg tempura on little lead panels. The shift from open airy to small dark and confined creates a heightened intensity for viewing these little gems. Then there’s a vast undulating space with an exhibit of 1,640 individually coloured highly detailed works on paper that collectively create an enormous snake. There’s a grand piano, musical instruments and sofas in the center of the room that I’m sure get put to good use. Each space is thought out like that, constantly changing, challenging perspective and expectation.
One of the great features of the MONA is O; their app. You’re invited to download it when you purchase your ticket, whether you do it in advance or buy it when you get on the ferry like we did. There’s hearty wifi everywhere on the property to download and use it. I won’t even bother to extol its virtues, I’m just going to give you the link and let you poke around on your own. I will though say that I love how with each artwork you have a choice to view either ‘summary’ or ‘art wank’. The first is concise, the latter indicated with a wanky little avatar, takes you deeper into the art speak if you’re so inclined.
Here’s that link:
We’re back in Hobart three more times this year, which I’d previously thought was overkill, but now I’m excited to have a chance to go deeper, plan ahead to see what events we can catch while we’re there and make the most of the opportunity to explore this place more deeply.
Hats off to the genius who designed this. I think planners from around the globe need to come, experience, play around with the app and see how they can make other attractions so interactive and satisfying.
If you know of other places as absorbing, informative and fun please let me know. I’ll add them to my visit before you die list. Yesterday morning we woke up in Hobart Tasmania. Our storm window was still in place, but Greg went up to deck nine and got some gorgeous photos of the sunrise, pretty enough to get me out of bed. It had been bumpy across the Tasman, but never truly uncomfortable for us. We’re grateful for our sailor stomachs.
Thanks so much for reading. Don’t forget to sign up for updates and I’ll keep you posted on our adventures