Today, we experienced an artistic treat: a visit to Hobart’s famous (some say infamous) Museum of Old and New Art - MONA, for short. It is wild, raucous, confrontational, delightful - and great fun! MONA is the largest privately funded museum in Australia - the $75 million (AUS) brainchild of the wealthy businessman David Walsh. It opened in 2011 and, in Walsh’s words, it’s a “subversive adult Disneyland.”
We chose to take MONA’s camouflaged ferry (MONA ROMA I) from Hobart Harbour up the River Derwent to the museum, about a twenty-minute ride. Well worth the added expense, for those considering a trip to MONA. You get to see Hobart Harbour and neighbouring suburbs as well as the protected shorelines. As with everything that’s connected to MONA, it’s cheeky and more than a little off centre. In other words, just our kind of place.
The museum itself is excavated out of sandstone three stories below ground level. You start your tour by going down an elevator and then working your way back up to the surface. The best known installation in the collection is Wim Delvoye’s “Cloaca Professional,” an artificial digestive machine that produces poo at 2pm each day, complete with appropriate smell. Look at the photos and judge for yourself! I’ve included photos of other pieces as well - and I apologize for not recording their names or the artists’ names.
We have one more full day in Hobart and plan to visit friends-of-friends on the east coast in Freycinet National Park. We fly to Melbourne on Tuesday, and then on to Brisbane, Vancouver, and Toronto on Wednesday.
I hope you enjoy these photos of MONA and Hobart.
99 Stairs...
Non-recyclable garbage bin.
Not one of the displays.
Bar on the lowest level.
Stairs everywhere!
Cloaca Professional Poo Machine
Crowds awaiting the 2 pm poo.
The 2 pm poo!
A video tribute to Madonna.
Fat Car by Erwin Wurm
An amazing water falls that spelled out words.
No connection to MONA, but I liked the Tasman Police car!
Not sure this would inspire confidence!
